


Sit Tight And Observe

by princesskiwifruit



Series: Waiting Room [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Breaking Up & Making Up, Childbirth, Depression, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Post-Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Quidditch, Terminal Illnesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-19 21:29:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 42,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9461144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princesskiwifruit/pseuds/princesskiwifruit
Summary: It's James's last year at Hogwarts and he is determined to win the Quidditch Cup against his cousin Louis, captain of the Ravenclaw team, but so are the Slytherins and their new Seeker Scorpius Malfoy. Meanwhile the Lupins struggle through their first year of parenthood. Draco is confronted with his loneliness. Harry's working load puts a strain on his marriage. As tragedy strikes the Malfoys yet again, Scorpius risks losing Albus. And no one really knows what's going on with Freddie.





	1. Flora

**Author's Note:**

> About the tags: There is some Draco/Ginny in Chapter 8. Implied self-harm is in Chapter 10, second paragraph. If you don't want to read that you can just skip it.  
> Hope you like it!  
> Comments and kudos are always welcome.

Being an intern sucked.  
It had seemed exciting at first. James had felt very important when his father made him sign a confidentiality contract before starting. But five days into the experience James started to realize he was nothing more than a secretary to his father's secretary. Only that he didn't even get paid for it. And he didn't really have a desk. And wherever he went one of his father's colleagues would comment on how tall James had gotten and say “I remember you when you were this small.”  
He should have applied for an intern-ship at Gringotts, he decided in hind-sight. His mother had insisted he do one during the holidays. James hadn't really seen why. Several professional Quidditch teams had already expressed their interest in him for after he left Hogwarts. But his mum had insisted, that a Quidditch career wouldn't last forever and he'd have to look into other fields as well.  
Well, now he knew what he didn't want to do. Ever.  
He trotted up the corridor of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement until he came to the Auror Office. He entered and started distributing the new schedules to every desk. A lot of them were deserted and the Aurors who were there, didn't pay James any attention. James knew that they were very busy at the moment, because Azkaban had seen a riot two weeks earlier, organized by Delphi. Harry suspected that it was no coincidence that it had happened on Albus's birthday. Harry had put more Aurors on Azkaban duty after that and the ones who were left in London had more to do than ever.  
Teddy, however, did look up when James reached his cubicle.  
“Hey, James, what's up.”  
“New schedules.” James grumbled and handed Teddy his.  
“Thanks.” Teddy looked at the paper and frowned. “Is this the right one?” He asked.  
James leaned over and checked. “Yes, see.” He pointed at the top of the parchment. “Edward Lupin.”  
“Damn!” Teddy hissed, got up and hurried towards the corridor.  
James followed him confused. Teddy almost ran up the corridor and stormed into Harry's office without knocking. Harry and Hermione, who seemed to have been in deep discussion over a map on Harry's desk looked up.  
“What the hell, Harry?” Teddy shouted, slamming his schedule onto the desk, “You're sending me to Azkaban?”  
“Teddy.” Harry said calmly, looking very guilty. “I'm sorry, I had to. There was no other -”  
“My wife is nine months pregnant and your sending me on Azkaban duty for two weeks?”  
“Teddy, I promise you, we'll get you home if Vicky goes into labour while you're there.”  
“That's bullshit!” Teddy roared. “That's bullshit and you know it! It takes hours to get guards off duty.”  
“I'm really sorry. But I had no other choice. You're one of our best guards and with the situation in Azkaban as it is I couldn't justify not sending you any longer without having it look like favouritism, because frankly it would have been favouritism.”  
“You could have at least had the decency to tell me in person.” Teddy spat.  
James saw that his father looked very tired. “I know,” he said quietly, “I tried to, I didn't know the schedules were being handed out already. There's just been so much going on today. Take the rest of the day off. Go home and talk to Vicky.”  
Teddy looked as though he was considering fighting Harry on this, but seemed to decide against it. He stormed past James out of the room and slammed the door behind himself.  
“Harry,” Hermione asked tentatively, apparently trying not to sound too accusative, “you're going to let him miss his first child's birth?”  
“Maybe the baby won't be born until he's back. And Azkaban needs Teddy now. I would have had to send him soon anyway. This way he'll be home for the first weeks of the baby's life.”  
Hermione sighed. “It's your department.” She said. “But it seems cruel.”  
“Teddy is excellent as a guard. I plan on suggesting him for the director's post when Perks retires.” He threw James a sharp look. “That doesn't leave this room.”  
James nodded.  
“But when Teddy came home from Azkaban last Christmas he seemed really down.” He said.  
“Yes, that was his first duty with Delphi in it. He doesn't usually let taunts get to him. I think he was mostly upset because of the break-up with Vicky. Normally, he is very good with the prisoners. They respect him, most of them at least. He's really got a way with them and I think he's actually one of the few in the Auror Office who likes Azkaban duty.”  
“OK, well I'm going to be handing out the rest of these.” James said, nodding towards the pile of schedules he was still carrying. “Anyone else who's going to explode when I give them theirs?”  
“Hopefully not.” Harry said darkly.

Vicky and Teddy were currently staying at the Potters' house. Vicky didn't want to be home alone all day, now that she was on maternity leave from Auror training. At first they had stayed at Shell Cottage, but then Fleur's mother had fallen ill and Fleur and Louis had left for France. As Bill and Nicky had to work, Vicky and Teddy had moved to the Potters', where Albus and Lily made sure Vicky was looked-after and not bored to death while Teddy, Harry, Ginny and James were at work.  
When James got home that night, Albus and Lily were in the kitchen, cooking, while Ginny sat at the kitchen table, working on an article. James gave a theatrical groan and slumped down on a chair opposite her.  
“Long day?” Ginny asked, hardly looking up.  
“Yes, I'm so glad it's the week-end.  
“Did Harry say, when he's going to be home?” Ginny asked.  
“Probably late. He said, we should eat without him.”  
Ginny sighed. “Honestly, if he keeps this up -” She let the sentence hang in the air unfinished. “By the way,” she handed James an envelope, “Hogwarts letters came today. And guess what Albus got?”  
“What?” James asked, yawning as he opened his letter.  
Albus turned around, grinning smugly and held a badge under James's nose. James gaped.  
“No shit? You're a prefect?”  
“James, language.” Ginny scolded. She had returned to her article, but James saw her smile proudly.  
“Cool, eh?” Albus said. “I was surprised, though. I thought McGonagall would choose Scorpius over me.”  
“Nah, Sorpius is too nice. He could never tell off anyone.” James said.  
“You don't think I'm nice?” Albus asked mockingly offended.  
“Come on, no one is as nice at Scorpius. It's not possible.”  
“That's true.” Albus agreed, grinning and turned his attention back to the pots on the stove.  
“Where are Teddy and Vicky?” James asked.  
“In the living room.” Lily said. “We're giving them some space. Teddy's so angry with Dad.”  
“I know.” James said. “How's Vicky taking it.”  
“Better than Teddy. As usual.” Lily said.  
Ginny pointedly set a dot behind her last sentence, set her quill aside and leaned back in her chair. “And with this, kids, I am officially on holiday,” she said.  
“Congratulations.” James said grumpily.  
“So, we can start planning the week-end. Bill and Nicky are coming for dinner tomorrow. Luna and her family are picking Lily up on Sunday. Lily, have you started packing?”  
“Not yet.”  
“Where is it you're going again?” James asked.  
“Sweden, camping, I've told you. Don't you listen when I talk to you?” Lily said annoyed.  
“Sorry.” James said lazily. “But it sounds great. Maybe you'll see a dragon.”  
“I hope so.”  
“Mum, can we go to Diagon Alley, tomorrow?” Albus asked.  
“No, not this week-end. There's too much going on already.” Ginny said.  
“I can go with you, Albus.” James offered.  
“Sure, why not.” Albus said.  
“When is Scorpius coming?” James asked.  
“On Sunday. His dad's bringing him and staying for dinner.” Albus said.  
“And Teddy is leaving on Sunday, too.” Ginny said.”So, we'll be quite the train station.”  
“You think he'll be able to come home for the birth?” James asked.  
Ginny shook her head. “I don't think so. Azkaban guards are only let off duty in emergencies. You have to find someone who is available for a few days at short notice and qualified and the debriefing takes a lot of time.”  
“Maybe the baby will wait until Teddy's back.” Albus said.  
“Albus, Vicky's due in three days. If they're lucky it's going to come tomorrow while Teddy's still here, otherwise he'll probably miss it.”

But the baby didn't come the next day. James and Albus went to Diagon Alley and bought their school books and talked about the next school years, Albus's impending O.W.L.s and James's intern-ship. When they got back, Vicky was still very pregnant and Teddy was still upset.  
Luna and Ralph picked Lily up very early on Sunday morning, but Lily only left after Albus and James swore they would write to her immediately if the baby was born while she was away. After breakfast, Teddy had to leave as well. He knelt down before Vicky, pulled her t-shirt up and kissed her bare belly.  
“Hey, little one,” he said, “this is you Daddy speaking. I have to go to work and make the world a safer place. I'm sorry I probably won't be here for your big day. But I'll see you very soon and I can't wait to meet you.”  
They all hugged Teddy goodbye.  
“Take care of things for me, until I'm back, OK?” Teddy asked James.  
“Yeah.” James promised.

Three days later Harry was in an important meeting with the Minister, so James was using his desk to sort through some paperwork, when he heard a sound coming from the fireplace behind him.  
“Hey, James.”  
James turned around. Albus's head was sitting in the fireplace.  
“What?” James asked.  
“James, the baby's coming. You need to tell Dad.”  
And the next thing James knew he was running through the Ministry until he arrived in front of the Minister's office. He knocked and entered before he heard an answer. Thankfully, only Harry and Hermione were inside.  
“Dad, Vicky's baby's coming.” James blurted out, before they could tell him off for interrupting.  
Harry jumped up. “What, now?”  
“Yes, now.”  
“But,” Harry ran a hand through his hair, “but I don't have anyone to send to Azkaban. Half of the Aurors are already there, a lot are on holidays and the rest is on werewolf-detail, because it's the full-moon tonight.”  
He paced through the room, thinking hard. Hermione leaned against her desk and frowned, trying to find a solution.  
“Neville!” Harry said after a few moments of silence.  
“What?” Hermione asked, looking up.  
“Neville used to do a lot of Azkaban duty when he was an Auror, we could ask him to cover for Teddy.”  
“No, Harry. That was more than fifteen years ago. Neville is not qualified for this and I will not authorize it.” Hermione said sternly.  
“Hermione, I promised Teddy I'd send someone and there is no one else left.”  
“Yes, there is, Harry. You.”  
“Me?” Harry had stopped pacing. “I can't just go. Someone needs to be in charge of the place.”  
“Right.” Hermione said, turning to James. “James, get Percy.”  
“Percy?” Harry and James asked in unison.  
“Yes. If someone is good at being in charge it's Percy and his department can spare him for the rest of the day. You tell us the important things we need to know and Percy and I will take over for the rest of the day and the night. Then you can go to Azkaban and send Teddy home.”  
Harry took a few seconds to think about the plan, then he nodded curtly.  
“OK. Get Percy, James.”

About ten minutes later Harry, Hermione, Percy and James were running to Harry's office.  
“James, go home and tell them Teddy will be there in about three to four hours.” Harry said.  
James took some Floo powder from the mantelpiece and threw it into the fire. He caught a last glimpse of the three adults huddled around Harry's desk before he stepped inside it and went home. Albus and Scorpius were sitting on the carpet so near to the fireplace, that James nearly fell over them, when he stumbled out.  
“What are you doing there?” He asked annoyed, removing the soot from his robes with a wave of his wand.  
“Sorry.” Albus and Scorpius had jumped up. “We were waiting for a message. We didn't know you'd come in person.”  
“Where's Vicky?” James asked.  
“Upstairs. Is Teddy coming?”  
“Yes.” James said and hurried upstairs.  
Ginny and Vicky were walking up and down the hallway.  
“Oh, James, good, can you take over for a second? I'll get us something to eat. I'm starving.” Ginny said, when she saw him.  
“Er, yeah, what do you want me to do?” James asked uncertain.  
“Just put your hand here and rub her back a bit.” Ginny showed him the spot below Vicky's ribs.  
“OK. Like this?” James asked, feeling awkward.  
“Yes, exactly there.” Vicky said. “Is Teddy coming?”  
“Yes, he should be here in a few hours.”  
“Really, did Harry find someone to cover for Teddy?” Ginny asked surprised.  
“No, Dad went himself.”  
Vicky smiled relieved and Ginny hurried downstairs.  
“So, what are we doing here?” James asked.  
“Just walking.” Vicky said. “It helps.”  
“OK. I can do that.”  
Ginny had just come back upstairs when Vicky had the first contraction since James had arrived. She leaned her forearms and head against the wall and let out a deep groan. James gave his mum a frightened look.  
“It's fine, James, just keep rubbing her back.” Ginny said unimpressed and kept eating her sandwich. When the contraction passed she handed Vicky one, too.  
They kept on walking up and down the hallway, making conversation as if nothing special was going on. Occasionally they sat down on some chairs Ginny had conjured, but Vicky mostly wanted to keep moving. Ginny and James took turns having their hands painfully squeezed during the contractions and generally just doing whatever made her feel better. Meanwhile, Albus and Scorpius were still sitting downstairs in front of the fireplace in case somebody wanted to contact them. They had let Bill know what was going on, but Vicky had expressly said that she didn't want him here. “He'll just drive me crazy worrying.” Which meant that he was probably driving Nicky crazy at Shell Cottage, but everybody could live with that.  
After about two hours Ginny called downstairs for Albus to come up and told him to Floo St. Mungo's. It was time for the midwife. James had noticed that the contractions seemed to be getting longer, while the time between them shortened. Vicky didn't want to be on her feet any more, so they got her onto James's parents' bed, because their room was the largest.  
When the midwife arrived and said she was going to have a look down there, James took that as his cue to leave the room, but Vicky was having another contraction and when he tried to gently yank his hand out of her grip, she screamed “DON'T YOU DARE, JAMES!”  
So, he didn't. Instead he kept looking determinedly at her face and prayed Teddy would be here soon.  
“You the father?” The midwife asked.  
“So not.” James said horrified.  
“Then what are you doing here?”  
The contraction had passed. “He's my cousin.” Vicky panted. “He's filling in until my husband gets here.”  
“I am?” James asked in a squeaky voice, looking at his mother for help.  
“There's not much more to it than hand-holding. Just don't faint and you'll be fine.” She reassured him.  
James and Ginny sat down on either side of Vicky on the large bed, each holding one hand – James felt certain he was going to get bruises. Ginny was talking in a low voice to Vicky, saying comforting things and reassuring her that Teddy would come very soon, reminding her to keep breathing when the pain started again. Sometimes she had to remind James too. James sat with his back to the midwife and envied his father for doing Azkaban duty instead of being here and having to watch Vicky be in more pain than he had ever seen anybody be in and not being able to help at all. He was also vaguely wondering how his own mother had decided to have two more kids after going through this ordeal once.

“When's Teddy coming?” Vicky whimpered some time later.  
“Soon. Very soon.” James promised, stroking a strand of sweaty hair off her face.  
“I don't want to do this alone.” She whispered, when the midwife told her it would be time to push soon.  
“I know.” Ginny said calmly. “I know.”  
James felt the next contraction come when Vicky's hand started squeezing his again.  
“OK, Vicky, start pushing.” The midwife said.  
“No,” Vicky wheezed, “I want Teddy here.”  
“I know, Vicky, I know. But your baby wants to come out and you need to push now.” Ginny said.

It almost became a routine at some point. Vicky would lean forward, her back supported by Ginny and James, while her fingernails bored the back of their hands. Her face grew red and her screams made James wanting to throw up. Between the contractions she fell back into the pillows, panting heavily and whimpering about Teddy not being there.  
“Next time I'll marry someone who doesn't love working so much.”  
“Is that a proposal?” James asked weakly. He had taken his mother's lead and stopped promising Vicky that Teddy would come in time. Even if Teddy did manage to arrive before the baby was born, he would still be too late, because Vicky needed him now, had needed him for some time.  
And it didn't matter how much they told Vicky to keep going and that she was doing such a good job. All James could keep thinking was: This is wrong. It's not the way it was supposed to be.  
That was when Teddy came.  
They hadn't heard him arrive downstairs and sprint up the stairs undercover of Vicky's screaming. He stumbled into the room, out of breath and was at Vicky's side in a second.  
“I'm here.” He muttered, taking her hand from James's and kissing her forehead. Vicky began yelling at him furiously using a variety of very interesting swearwords. Teddy looked a bit taken aback, but took it without comment.  
James heard him telling Vicky how proud he was of her and how well she was doing as he fled the room.  
When he had closed the door behind him, he leaned against the wall and slid down onto the floor. He realized that Albus and Scorpius were standing there in the hallway, both looking rather pale. They could hear Vicky's screams coming from the room.  
James buried his face in his arms and started to cry, the horror of what he had witnessed catching up with him. He felt someone crouching down beside him and putting a comforting hand on his back.  
“James?” It was Scorpius.  
James managed to stifle his sobs, which left him shaking uncontrollably.  
“It's – it's horrible.” He gasped.  
“I know.” Scorpius whispered as the screams inside subsided.  
But then there they were again. James wasn't sure how long they sat there, crouched on the floor. He kept his face hidden, the image of Vicky's pain-contorted face still visible to him even with his eyes shut tightly.  
But then there was a different cry. James heard Albus and Scorpius gasp. He looked up to see relieved smiles on both their faces.  
It was over. The baby was born.

Albus was in the kitchen making dinner. It felt weird. Not only because it was almost midnight and therefore far too late for dinner, but also because having dinner was such a normal thing to do on such an abnormal day. The midwife had left a short while ago, promising she'd be back in the morning. Vicky and her baby were sleeping, Teddy didn't want to come down to eat. He only had a few hours before he would have to get back to Azkaban and wanted to spend every minute with his new family. Albus said, he'd bring something up later. Ginny was taking a shower and Scorpius and James were sitting at the kitchen table watching Albus. James was too exhausted to help and Scorpius had been banned by Albus from ever going near the stove again after he had tried to help him with the cooking two days ago. James hadn't been there for the incident, but for the entire evening Albus had looked very cross, Scorpius very sorry and Ginny had spent the rest of the day trying not to succumb to laughter at the thought of it.  
They hadn't seen the baby yet. All they knew was that it was a girl.  
When Ginny came down they had a hurried dinner. They didn't speak much, everyone was tired.  
They had almost finished when Teddy came downstairs, holding his daughter in his arms, giving them all a wide smile.  
“I want you to meet someone.” He said.  
The boys stood up quickly and went over to him to admire the little person in his arms.  
“This is Flora.” Teddy said quietly.  
Scorpius let out a sound somewhere between an emotional sigh and an excited squeak.  
Flora looked very small, especially in the arms of her tall father. She had black hair. Teddy's had mimicked the colour. She was sleeping.  
“Wow.” James heard himself whisper in amazement and the little human being who had not been there this morning.  
“Thank you, James.” Teddy said quietly.  
James smiled at the baby. “I promised, didn't I?”

Teddy had already left when James got up the next morning. Everyone else was sleeping in, but James heard baby gurgles coming from his parents' room, so he looked in with Victoire to ask if he could bring her breakfast.  
“Yes, please, I'm starving.” She said gratefully.  
He brought up a tray and they ate in silence, James sitting on the edge of the bed. Flora was just being fed and Vicky held the baby with one hand while shovelling food in her mouth with the other.  
The were both tired and didn't talk much. Flora's hair turned turquoise while she drank, which was Teddy's happy colour. Vicky sighed and smiled sadly.

When he arrived at the office it was occupied by Percy looking very important and stressed out.  
“Everything all right?” James asked, stifling a yawn.  
“No, it's not.” Percy snapped. “Your father promised he'd be back by nine.  
James looked at his watch. “So? He's only five minutes late.”  
“So far. As are you by the way.”  
“Honestly, Uncle Percy? I'm the intern! No one cares if I'm late. No one even cares if I come at all.”  
He tuned out for the following reprimand.  
His father arrived half an hour later looking dead on his feet.  
Percy tried to tell him about what had happened in his department while he'd been away immediately.  
“Percy, can I please get something to eat, first?” Harry asked pleadingly.  
“You know, I need to get back to my own office. I have a department to run as well.” Percy informed him importantly.  
“I know, but I've hardly gotten any sleep and I'm starving. Just give me twenty minutes.”  
Percy agreed grudgingly.  
“Coming, James?” Harry asked.  
James hurried after his father towards the cafeteria, where Harry bought himself some sandwiches.  
“How was Azkaban?” James asked as they sat down at a small round table.  
“Horrible.” Harry groaned. “Reminded me why I've never done much guard duty, even before I became head of the department.”  
“Why?” James asked.  
“Because they hate me. I'm just too well-known.”  
“But there are hardly any Death Eaters left in Azkaban now.”  
“I know, but I put them all there. I hunted down a lot of them, I pressed charges, I was at their trial...”  
“So, what did they do?”  
“Most of them were OK. They weren't pleased to see me, but they didn't make any trouble. Some were even concerned about Teddy and asked me why he left during his shift. But a few were determined to give me as much trouble as possible. I hardly got to sleep at all. And Delphi was worst. She really gave me hell.” He shuddered and James knew better than to ask more questions.


	2. The Black Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny turns fourty on a very warm day. Draco visits Muggle Germany.

The Potters invited Draco to stay for dinner when he came to pick up Scorpius on Sunday. Luna Lovegood and her family were also there, as well as Bill and his daughters. Victoire had given birth to a daughter during Scorpius's stay and the little girl spent most of the evening in her proud grandfather's arms, looking incredibly cute. Luna was returning Lily from a camping holiday in Sweden. Between lamenting that she had missed Flora's birthday Lily showed them all pictures she'd taken during the trip.  
“Draco, have you ever seen a Swedish Short-Snout?” She asked him excitedly.  
“Yes, in my fourth year, during the Triwizard Tournament.” Draco said. He saw in her disappointed expression that this was the wrong answer. “It's been such a long time.” He said, frowning. “I can't really remember what they look like. They're red, aren't they?”  
“No!” Lily said, shoving one of her photographs in his hand. “They're blue. Look, we saw one.”  
“Right.” Draco said, trying to suppress a grin. “My mistake.”  
Behind Lily he could see Ginny giving him an amused smile.  
They were out in the garden, sitting around a long table. Draco was sitting between Lily and the chair Scorpius had vacated a while ago. It was a warm day and he envied the people around him for being able to wear short sleeves.  
The Scamander Twins were running around the garden playing with the gnomes in the evening sun. Scorpius and Albus were sitting under tree. Scorpius had his back leaned against the trunk of the tree, while Albus sat between his legs, his head resting against Scorpius's chest. Scorpius's fingers were playing with Albus's untidy black hair, while his other hand was being caressed by Albus's.  
As Albus lifted up his face to kiss Scorpius, Draco felt Lily next to him go still and saw her take her camera carefully.  
“Lily,” he said quietly, “I don't think the boys want to have pictures taken right now.”  
“If you don't give me away you get one in a frame for your desk,” Lily hissed as she lifted up the camera.  
“Deal.”  
He heard the camera click at the very moment that Albus and Scorpius's lips met. Lily put it quickly down again and turned beaming to Draco.  
“Perfect.” She said. “I'll send it to you.”  
“If they're angry I had nothing to do with it.” Draco said, taking a sip of wine from his goblet.  
Lily snorted. “You're such a Slytherin.”  
“Draco,” Ginny turned around and looked at him over Lily's head, “I've been meaning to tell you for ages but I keep forgetting. My birthday's next week on Sunday. We're having a little garden party and you and Scorpius are invited.”

The entire Weasley family. Again. The wedding had been uncomfortable enough, but not too bad. Weddings were so big that you usually stuck to the people you knew and liked, but smaller parties meant that you had to interact with most people present. Considering whp the guests at this party would be, it was not something Draco particularly looked forward to.  
“Scorpius, are you ready to go?” Draco called. He heard Scorpius running down the stairs a moment later, before he skidded into the sitting room.  
“Dad, are you sure you want to go dressed like this?” He asked sceptically.  
“Why?”  
“Because it's one of the hottest days of the year outside and I know you only wear long sleeves and you want to look all dignified or whatever it is you call this style, but don't you think that's a bit warm?”  
“I know how to dress, Scorpius.”  
“OK, just saying. What are we giving Ginny for her birthday, anyway?”  
Draco held out the box he was carrying in response. Scorpius studied the label and frowned.  
“Fifty year old elf-made wine? Dad, how much did that cost?”  
“I don't know. Probably a few hundred galleons. I found it in the wine cellar.”  
“That's probably the most un-Potter-ish thing I've ever seen.”  
“Got any better ideas?”  
“No.”  
“Then let's go.”  
They Flooed to the Potters' house, where Albus was already awaiting them impatiently. An outsider witnessing the greeting he gave Scorpius would probably have gotten the impression the boys had been apart for years instead of one week. He lead them outside. Scorpius had been right, it was stifling hot. Much more so than Draco had expected. They had stayed inside the Manor the last few days, which was usually pleasantly cool. He started to sweat immediately.  
They made their way over to Ginny, wished her a happy birthday and gave her the wine. Then they greeted the other guests, which meant that Draco had to shake a lot of hands with people he didn't like very much and who didn't like him either. When he had met everyone Scorpius had vanished from his side, presumably to the house with Albus. He stood around alone, looking at the little pond in the middle of the garden, occasionally taking a sip from the glass of champagne he was holding. He was conscious of the fact that some of the guest kept throwing glances at him and that his hair had started to stick to the back of his sweaty neck. After a while, Rolf Scamander and Neville Longbottom took pity on him, strolled over to where he was standing and tried to include them in their conversation about recent discoveries in their respective fields of studies, magizoology and herbology, and what they had to do with each other. It worked rather well. As Draco spent most of his time reading he knew quite a bit about what they were talking about. It was easier than he had thought it would be and only now did he realize how much he missed talking to other people, exchanging thoughts and knowledge.  
After two glasses of champagne he was feeling much more light-headed than he should have been. The sweat was now running down the back of his neck into his robes which clung uncomfortably to his hot skin. The pond swam in and out of focus before his eyes, Rolf's voice was becoming a background noise as Draco's brain could no longer process the meaning of the words. When the ground began to sway he grabbed the nearest thing to him which turned out to be Neville's arm.  
“Are you all right?” he heard Neville ask, before everything went blank.

A splash of cold water to his face. He came around. He was lying on the Potters' sofa, his feet propped up on a few cushions and Hannah Longbottom was sending a stream of cold water to his face. She stopped when she saw that he was awake.  
"Well, hello there, Draco," she said good-naturedly.  
"Dad, are you OK?" Scorpius's anxious face popped up next to Hannah.  
"Yeah," Draco mumbled. He felt dizzy and a bit weak, not to mention very wet.  
"Here, drink this." Hannah pushed a glass of clear-blue liquid in his hand.  
He took it, giving her a questioning look.  
"Rehydration potion." She explained.  
He nodded and drank it. It tasted disgustingly salty, but he immediately felt much better.  
"You should change into different clothes." Hannah said. "These are a bit warm, don't you think? May be Harry can lend you something."  
"I don't think Harry's stuff will fit him." Neville said.  
"Teddy?" Albus suggested.  
Draco looked around. To his relief no one else was in the living room but Neville, Hannah, Albus and Scorpius.  
"He's much taller than Draco, though." Neville said.  
"I'm not wearing anyone's clothes." Draco interrupted them. "I'll just go home."  
"What?" Scorpius asked disappointed.  
"I'm sure that's not necessary." Neville said.  
"You can stay, Scorpius, I'll go home and you can stay for the rest of the party."  
Scorpius still looked disappointed.  
"Why don't you guys go outside for a minute." Neville suggested to Albus and Scorpius. They took the hint and did so. At a look from her husband Hannah followed them.  
"Look, Draco," Neville said, "I get it OK. But there's nothing to be ashamed of here. I'll get you one of Teddy's t-shirts, we'll put a bandage on your forearm and you go back to the party. It's as easy as that."  
"A bandage?" Draco sneered.  
"We all know it's there anyway. Do you honestly want to miss the evening because of this?"  
"No one wants me here, anyway."  
"That's not true. Ginny wouldn't have invited you if she didn't want you here and you know it."  
Yes, he did know that. He sighed.  
"OK, but no weird motives on the t-shirt."  
Neville grinned and went off to look for Victoire. Draco got up from the sofa and went into the bathroom. He dried his hair and clothes and put his ponytail back in order. He frowned at his reflection in the mirror. You idiot, he thought, this is so embarassing.  
Neville knocked on the door a few minutes later.  
"I turned it black for you," he said, holding out a plain black t-shirt to Draco.  
"Thanks." Draco took it. "Do you mind?" He asked, looking pointedly at the door.  
"Oh, of course," Neville said and closed it.  
"No, I meant -"  
"What me? Come on, I've seen worse."  
Draco rolled his eyes and started unbuttoning his robes. At least Neville had the decency to examine the floor while he undressed. When he had put on Teddy's t-shirt, which was really a bit too long, he held out his left arm to Neville. Despite himself he was slightly impressed that Neville showed no reaction when he saw the Dark Mark. He simply gave a little flick with his wand and cast a bandage around the mark.  
"That looks as if I tried to commit suicide." Draco said dryly.  
Neville looked at it and then nodded. "Yeah, guess it does a bit," he agreed. "Come on, let's go back outside."

Draco was uncomfortable around Muggles. Not because he didn't like them, but because he knew so little about them and their ways of life that he was always afraid he might do something wrong. During his childhood people who learned about the Muggle way of life had been considered weirdos or geeks, or even traitors by people like his parents. But ever since the war had ended Muggles and Muggle-borns had a much higher status within the wizarding community and knowing about their world had become much more respected, even expected. Draco now felt that his lack of knowledge about Muggles was more of a disadvantage. Astoria had told him a bit about them. She had actually shared an apartment with two Muggle girls the first year after Hogwarts. Draco supposed she'd done it mostly to annoy her family. It had been nice, she'd said, but apparently the cleaning was much more work and Muggles didn't have houseelves. She had wanted to invite the Muggle girls to the wedding, but it was too obviously magical and with their families' histories they didn't want to risk anything.  
Astoria's favourite sweets had been from the Muggle world which meant that in the later years of her illness Draco would change into Muggle clothes she'd once bought for him every few days and go to a supermarket. That had been stressful enough.  
She'd told him about telephone's, too. She'd told him what they looked like and how to use them, but he'd never seen one before now.  
You take the receiver, put in some Muggle money, dial the number and wait.  
He did so. There was the dialing sound and then a female voice spoke from the receiver.  
"Er, hello, my name is Draco Malfoy," Draco began nervously, "I would like to make a reservation."  
"No English." The voice said.  
Great.  
"Er, parlez-vous français?" He asked desperately.  
"Un peu." The voice answered.  
Weird people, Draco thought, who on earth knows French but not English, except the French themselves?  
He managed to communicate his request somehow. When he finally hung up the receiver again he let out a long sigh.  
Who on earth had thought that holding the alchemists' convention in the Black Forest this year would be a good idea?  
Draco had been going to the convention for two years now. The first time had been shortly after Astoria's death and he'd thought it might do him good to get out of the Manor, out of the country, for a few days. And it did. The good thing about foreign wizards and witches was that most of them had no idea who he was or what the name Malfoy meant in Britain. This year however, the convention was to be held in the Black Forest and by the time Draco checked, every wizarding accommodation had been booked out. Which left him booking a room in a small Muggle inn.

The convention committee had set up a Portkey in each country's capitol, so Draco Apparated to London and went to King's Cross. The Portkey had been set up at platform 9 3/4, as they wouldn't be seen leaving by the Muggles there. Not a lot of people from England attended the convention, but Draco could feel them eyeing him suspisciously.  
He was glad when they arrived in Germany and he could escape their company again.  
The inn where he had booked the room was in a very small village in the mountains not too far from where the convention would take place. A bell tingled when he opened the door and stepped inside. A few moments later a woman came shuffling in through the door behind a small counter. She looked at him questioningly.  
"Hello," Draco said nervously, "Draco Malfoy."  
The woman frowned and consulted a list. Then she looked up again and nodded. She took a key and put it on the counter. Then she said something in German. Draco looked at her, lost.  
She gave him an annoyed look and scribbled down something on a piece of paper. It was a number. The price for the room.  
"Right. Draco nervously extracted the Muggle wallet he'd always taken to the supermarket with him from his jacket. He nervously fumbled with the pieces of paper that were Muggle money. He knew Muggle money of course, but apparently German Muggles had different money, so it took him some time to extract the right amount. The woman watched him impatiently. She took the money, he took the key and without another word to her he set off upstairs to find his room.  
He went into the bathroom first and looked at his reflection. He looked weird in Muggle clothing, he thought. He imagined Astoria standing next to him laughing at him for being so uptight and nervous, and for looking so ridiculously out of place in a room like this.  
He closed his eyes. He could see her big dark eyes. He could see the way her hair fell around her left ear. He could see the contrast of her white teeth against the red lips as she smiled. But he couldn't put it together anymore. It didn't matter if he stared at pictures of her for hours, as soon as he closed his eyes he couldn't remember her face. He saw all those details that he had sworn himself he'd never forget. But it didn't quite fit together any more. Maybe it wasn't important. He kept telling himself that it wasn't important  
Astoria smiling at him in the mirror.  
"You don't have to be scared of them, Draco. They're just people."  
"I'm not."  
Astoria stroking the back of his neck with her cool fingers, craning her neck to kiss his temple and flashing him an amused grin through the mirror.  
"Liar."  
Astoria gently turning his head towards her and kissing him.  
Draco opened his eyes and leaned his forehead against the cool mirror. He would have been able to smell her by then. But he didn't. Her smell had been one of the first things to go. It had only taken a few days after the elf had changed the bed sheets for the first time for him to realize that he couldn't remember her smell any more. And there were no pictures to look at for that. He had considered buying a love potion simply because he knew it would smell like her. But he'd decided he didn't want to be that pathetic.  
He looked up and saw that he was smiling. He had not felt this close to her in some time.  
He scurgified the smudge he'd left on the mirror.

When he went downstairs there was a younger woman sitting behind the counter.  
"Hello, are you Mr Malfoy?" She asked.  
"Yes."  
"Hi, I'm Julia. My parents told me you don't speak German."  
"Draco," he said, "yes, I'm from England."  
"Cool, what brings you here?"  
Draco cleared his throat. "Visiting a conference," he mumbled.  
"OK, is there anything you need?"  
"No, no, everything's fine, thank you."

The convention started early on Saturday morning, there was an hour long break after lunch so Draco went for a little stroll in the forest. It was quite beautiful. He was thinking about Scorpius who was playing in his first Quidditch match against Gryffindor today. Draco had been receiving increasingly anxious letters over the last week. He and Scorpius had been practicing a lot over the summer and Scorpius played quite well.  
Draco came to a sudden stop when a silver horse appeared in front of him. Before he'd recovered from the shock the horse began to speak in Ginny Potter's voice.  
"Draco, don't freak out when you get this, but you need to come to Hogwarts, now."  
The horse dissolved into thin air.  
Draco steadied himself against the nearest tree.  
Not again, he thought. Don't freak out, easier said than done.  
He was thinking quickly. How was he going to get home? The Portkey didn't leave until the next morning and Scotland was much too far to Apparate to. Had this been Britain he wouldn't have had second thoughts about setting up a Portkey of his own, but he knew the German Ministry of Magic to be not only very burocratic - a permission for a Portkey would undoubtedly require some paperwork - but also very efficient in enforcing their laws and he didn't fancy getting arrested. He could try Apparating his way across France, but that many Apparitions required a lot of concentration and focus and he wasn't sure whether he'd manage it without splinshing himself. Wait, Draco thought, France. He could Apparate into France, he was not far from the border and take a Portkey from there.  
And that was what he did.


	3. Quidditch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Gryffindor plays Slytherin, Scorpius shows off his flying skills, Hugo tries to pull his weight for the Gryffindors and Lily lives up to her name.

He knocked on the door before he entered.  
“Hey, Vicky?”  
She was sitting on the bed, breastfeeding. She looked tired and exhausted.  
“Don't you want to come outside?” He asked, closing the door behind him. He walked over to her and sat down on the edge of the bed.  
“No,” she answered simply, watching Flora carefully as she drank.  
“People are asking about you. And the little one of course.”  
“You can take her outside when she's done.”  
“And you?”  
“I just don't want to be around people right now. I mean look at me.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“I'm a mess, James. I'm a fat, ugly mess who can't seem to stop crying.” A tear spilled from her watery eyes.  
“OK, first of all you're neither fat nor ugly, period. And about the crying, Mum says it's normal and I'm sure everyone out there will understand. Most of them have children too, after all.”  
She wiped her cheeks impatiently. “It's just not how I imagined it would be,” she sniffed.  
“Of course not. But Teddy will be back any minute now. And you'll be home with your family in a few days.”  
Vicky's French grandmother had died two days ago which was why Bill and Nicky had gone to France. Vicky was waiting for Teddy to get home from Azkaban. They would be going there for the funeral tomorrow. As if this wasn't all emotional and complicated enough as it was, James thought.  
There was a knock on the door.  
“Yes,” Vicky called.  
Neville poked his head in. “Hello you two. Vicky, can I borrow one of Teddy's t-shirts?”  
“Why?” Vicky asked.  
“Draco Malfoy underestimated the heat when dressing.”  
“OK, sure, Teddy's stuff is over there.”  
Neville came in and began rummaging through the trunk.  
“Does he have anything a bit less colourful?” He asked.  
“Probably not. You can just change the colour though, if you want. As long as you turn it back later.”  
“Yeah, I think I'll do that,” Neville agreed taking a bright turquoise t-shirt from the trunk. He left the room again.  
Flora it seemed, had finished her meal. James looked at the floor as Vicky tucked her breasts away.  
“Do you want me to take her?” He asked. “You could try and get some rest before Teddy arrives. Maybe even sleep a little.”  
She nodded gratefully and handed him the baby. James took her carefully and left the room.  
When he stepped into the garden he went straight to where Uncle George, Uncle Ron, Lily, Hugo, Freddie and Scorpius were sitting around a table in the shadow of a large tree. Ron, Lily and Hugo were discussing Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' latest products, while the other three were listening.  
“Anyone want a baby for free?” James asked as he approached the table.  
“Yes!” Ron and Lily called in unison. James handed Flora to George, who beamed at him.  
James knew that every Weasley present had been dying to meet Flora, but no one as much as George who'd always had a soft spot for Vicky. It hadn't really made a lot of sense to James until his mother had explained to him that George had lived at Shell Cottage when Vicky was born.  
Apparently George had stopped talking after his twin brother had died during the Battle of Hogwarts. James didn't have a difficult time imagining this, George never spoke very much with anyone, but his parents had assured him that George had been just as talkative and loud as Roxy was before Fred had died. After about a year he moved from the Burrow to Shell Cottage, because they thought he would recover better if he didn't spend all his time in the house he and Fred had grown up in, but as he still hadn't said a word to anyone they weren't sure whether he could take care of himself on his own. Which was why he lived with Bill and Fleur when Vicky was born. When Vicky was a few days old, Fleur came into the nursery and found George holding Vicky and talking to her. For the first time in two years.  
Ever since hearing this story, James had understood the Weasley family's dynamics a lot better.  
James threw himself in the chair next to Scorpius who was watching the scene dreamily.  
“You OK?” James asked.  
Scorpius blinked. “Sorry,” he said, “I'm just not from a big family like you are. I haven't seen that many babies before, so I get a bit – you know – she's so cute.”  
“Yeah, I know. Where's Albus anyway?”  
“He's in the kitchen, helping your dad. Why aren't you?”  
James shrugged. “I feel like I've been spending enough quality time with my dad at the Ministry lately. But I've been meaning to talk to you on your own anyway. Albus always gets this annoyed look when you bring up Quidditch around him, but I heard you're going to try out as Seeker?”  
Scorpius nodded, looking nervous. “I'm not sure I'm good enough though.”  
“Course you are. I've seen you play. But it's great we'll get to play against each other.”  
“If I make the team.”  
“You will, don't worry.”  
“TEDDY!” They were interrupted by Lily's outcry.  
Finally, James thought.

James didn't sleep well the night before the Quidditch match. He woke up around four in the morning and was not able to get back to sleep. Instead he kept going through his strategies in his head over and over again.  
It was his third year as Quidditch Captain and Gryffindor had to win the cup this year. Last year it had gone to the Ravenclaws – as Louis kept reminding him at least twice a day – and the year before to the Slytherins, who had played no significant role in the last season mostly due to their Seeker's death a few weeks into the school year.  
James knew that his team was better than the Slytherins'. He also knew that he was a much better Seeker than Scorpius. But he felt like this only increased the pressure on him. After losing the cup two years in a row, the Gryfindors had started to talk about him. A lot of them seemed to think that James was an inept captain and that his superb Seeking skills didn't make up for that. This was his chance to prove them wrong.  
He went to breakfast early, tired of lying around without having anything to do. The Great Hall was still quite empty, but a few minutes after he'd sat down Hugo came running up to him.  
“James, I've just been to see Professor McGonagall,” he said excitedly. “I've got it! I'm doing the commentary.”  
“That's brilliant, Hugo!” James said, clapping him on the back. “Well done.”  
“Yes!” Hugo was beaming. “I guess I'll go and prepare for it.”  
“You do that.”  
Hugo left and James turned his attention back to his breakfast, grinning. This really was good news.  
When his team mates joined him he told them about it and they were all feeling relatively cheerful and confident when Albus came over to their table.  
“James!” He bellowed, angrily.  
Oh, great. James turned around slowly to look at his little brother.  
“What?” He asked.  
“You know what! You got Hugo to do the commentary so that he can mess with our team's heads!”  
James supposed the Slytherin Captain had probably sent Albus to say this because he was the least likely of the Slytherins to get hexed by Gryffindors if James was around and also because she probably thought he'd have the best chances at making James feel guilty. But Albus did seem genuinely angry.  
“No, I didn't,” James answered calmly. “Hugo just applied for it and he got it. There's nothing wrong with that. Someone has to do it.”  
Albus took a step closer and lowered his voice threateningly. “If Hugo says one nasty thing about Scorpius -”, he began.  
James laughed. “You'll do what? Put him in detention?”  
“No. You.”  
“Right,” James sneered, “as if you'd have the nerves.”  
“Watch me.”  
Albus turned around and stalked off towards the Slytherin table.  
“You know Al,” James called after him, “keep it up and you'll end up just as over-protective as Dad.”  
He sat down again, satisfied. He liked Scorpius and he loved his brother. But this was Quidditch.

The school was divided. The Ravenclaws, following Louis's lead, were supporting Slytherin. Gits, James thought. On the other hand it was also a bit satisfying because it meant that Louis considered James's team to be the bigger threat. The Hufflepuffs had therefore decided to support Gryffindor. Hufflepuff had lost every match last year, so they weren't really expecting anything from this season and just wanted to have some fun. Also, the Hufflepuffs generally got on quite well with the Gryffindors. When James exited the changing rooms followed by his team he saw Louis sitting next to Albus in midst a sea of green, smirking at James.  
“Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the season: Gryffindor versus Slytherin!” Hugo's voice rang loud over the pitch.  
As James stepped forward to shake the Slytherin Captain's hand he saw that Scorpius looked a little green. But he still flashed a timid smile at Lily who winked back.  
The Slytherin Captain was Emily Bowker. She was the teams Keeper and her little brother Craig, who had been the Slytherin Seeker, had been killed shortly after the Gryffindor-Slytherin-Match last year. As James shook her hand he tried not to think about who he would have been now if that would have happened to Albus. He had to concentrate.  
“Mount your brooms!” Madam Hooch called. They did and at the sound of her whistle they all flew off. James started looking for the Snitch immediately. He was intending on catching it quickly. The Slytherin's strength were their Beaters and he expected them to try and take him out of the game.  
„Slytherin Chaser Flint takes possession of the Quaffle and races towards the Gryffindor goalpost. She is attacked by Gryffindor Chaser Wood, throws over to Zabini, who throws it back to her again while they approach the goal where Lily Potter is waiting for them. Chaser Smith, it seems has decided not to take part in the game yet. She is a newcomer, only in her third year and therefore very inexperienced. The Gryffindor team on the other hand has the exact same players as last season. Flint throws the Quaffle and – Lily Potter saves it!“  
James found his way blocked by Smith, he swerved around only to find Scorpius blocking his way. He pulled his broom up and there was Smith again.  
Not a single Bludger was hit in his direction, but it wasn't needed, Smith and Scorpius were blocking him so perfectly, he could hardly move around. He didn't understand how Bowker could spare Smith as a Chaser to block him, but it became clear when he listened to Hugo's commentary again: “Jordan takes the Quaffle, aiming to pass to Granger-Weasley, but she has to duck as she is attacked yet again by a Bludger sent her way by Slytherin Beater Daisy Parkinson. Zabini takes the Quaffle and passes it to Flint who is going for Lily Potter's goal yet again.“  
Scorpius was blocking James again.  
“I don't know what you two call whatever you're doing here, but it's not playing Quidditch!” James shouted angrily at him and Smith.  
Scorpius grinned. „But it's working.“  
“Slytherin scores!” James heard Hugo groan.  
It became clear after a few minutes that Bowker's strategy was to take his team apart and that she was succeeding. Scorpius and Smith didn't let James out of their sight, the Parkinson Twins were attacking Rose so viciously that she had no chance of getting the Quaffle but was merely trying to stay on her broom without getting hit. The Gryffindor Beaters were busy trying to protect her and meanwhile the two remaining Slytherin Chasers were attacking Lily's goal again and again. She made some spectacular saves but they scored quite a few times as well.  
The score was seventy-ten to Slytherin when James called for time out.  
“What the hell is happening here?” He shouted at his team mates as they landed around him.  
“You tell us.” Lily shot back. “If you'd caught the Snitch by now we'd have won.”  
“I've got two Slytherins blocking me.”  
“And I've got two Slytherins attacking my goal and no one seems to bother stopping them!” Lily yelled back.  
James took a deep breath. “OK, look,” he turned to his Beaters. “I know you're trying to stop Rose from getting killed here, but I need you to try and aim a few Bludgers at Smith and Malfoy, because I can't do a thing while they're both on my tail.”  
They nodded.  
“OK, let's turn this around.”  
“So, after a short time-out the game resumes. Captains James Potter and Emily Bowker have both spoken to their teams. Bowker by the way is rumoured to prefer to let girls play on her team. Seeker Malfoy is the only boy, but maybe she didn't fully consider him one, seeing as -” Hugo broke off at an angry yell from Professor McGonagall. James gulped. He was so getting a detention from Albus. And he'd have to have a conversation with Hugo about which insults were appropriate and which were not.  
There were some angry shouts to be heard from the Slytherin crowd and the only one who seemed to find Hugo's comment funny was Scorpius who blocked James – yet again.  
“Was that supposed to hurt me?” He asked James, smiling widely.  
“Probably.” James growled, trying to loop around him. A Bludger was sent in Scorpius's direction by Yann Fredericks – finally the Beaters were doing something productive. Scorpius swerved to avoid it, but it still hit him beneath his right collar bone. He gasped for air for a second, but didn't seem otherwise hurt.  
James used this to loop him and try and escape from him, but Smith was on his tail again. She was quite a good flyer and she was smaller than James, which made it easier for her to change direction quickly.  
„Flint goes for the goal, swerves to avoid a Bludger, passes to Zabini and – what the hell is Lily Potter doing?“  
James looked around. Lily had abandoned her goalpost and was shooting towards the Slytherin end of the field at a neck-breaking pace. James turned around again and saw Emily Bowker looking confused as to why Lily was flying towards her goal and then he saw where Lily was headed.  
Scorpius was clutching his broom about twenty feet above the Slytherin goalpost not far from where the Bludger had hit him about two minutes ago. He was chalk white. As Lily drew nearer James saw him collapse on his broom as if in slow-motion. Just before he started to fall, Lily was there and dragging him onto her own broom. Bowker, who was the only one near them, shot towards them. James saw Lily shout something, but he couldn't hear what. The two Keepers flew towards the castle, Lily supporting Scorpius on her broom. Bowker stretched out her wand as they reached the front doors, blasting them open and the three of them disappeared in the castle.  
Before he could think about what he was doing James found himself racing after them, through the front doors, up the stairs towards the hospital wing. He landed so hard in front of it that he nearly fell over.  
“Potter,” Emily Bowker was waiting in the corridor, “Mrs Longbottom said we can't come in.”  
“Where's Lily then?” James asked, he saw Mary Flint land behind him. He hadn't realized she'd followed him inside.  
“She's telling her what happened.”  
“What did happen?” Flint asked.  
“I don't know. I didn't see it. Potter just said that he couldn't breathe so we brought him here immediately.”  
“I don't get it.” James said, he'd started to pace up and down in front of the doors. „I mean, he got hit by a Bludger, but it wasn't even very hard.“  
The doors of the hospital wing opened and Lily stepped out. Almost at the exact same time they heard approaching footsteps and Albus, Louis and Professor McGonagall came sprinting around the corner. James grabbed his brother's arm, stopping him from bursting into the hospital wing.  
“We have to wait outside, Albus.”  
“But I need to -” Albus struggled to free himself from James's grip.  
“You need to wait here and let Hannah do her job.” James said calmly, pulling Albus into a hug.  
He saw Professor McGonagall slip through the doors into the hospital wing.  
“What happened, Lily?” Albus asked. Lily was looking very agitated.  
„I don't know. Scorpius looked really bad so I flew towards him and when I got there he was unconscious and it sounded as though he was choking, so I brought him here. Hannah cleared his airways at once, but he started coughing up blood.“  
Albus pressed his hand over his mouth. James led him to the wall and Albus leaned against it and let himself slide to the ground.  
“It's OK.” James said somewhat lamely, crouching down next to him. “It's going to be OK.”  
He was right. Professor McGonagall came out a few minutes later telling them, that Scorpius would be just fine. “You can go back to the match. There really is nothing to worry about.”  
Albus stood up shakily. “Can I go inside now?” He asked.  
“Of course.” Professor McGonagall said.  
Albus sighed in relief and disappeared through the doors.  
James turned to Bowker. “Are you OK resuming the game like this.”  
“Of course,” she said smiling, “we'll win this match with or without Malfoy.”


	4. Cursed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco rushes to Hogwarts as history repeats itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not a happy chapter. You have been warned.  
> Thank you for the comments and kudos.

Ginny waited for him in the Entrance Hall, which was otherwise deserted.  
“What's going on?” Draco asked without preamble.  
“Hello Draco, come with me.” She turned to lead the way, but he grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him.  
“What is going on?” He asked. She raised her eyebrows at the force of his grip. He let go  
“Scorpius got hurt during the Quidditch match.” She said.  
“What happened?”  
“He got hit by a Bludger.”  
“That's not unusual. Why did you call me?”  
She seemed reluctant to give any more information. “Let's just go to the hospital wing. Hannah wants to talk to you.”  
“Please, tell me.”  
She looked into his eyes and sighed. “She healed his injuries at once it was not a problem. But she says they were much more severe than they should have been from a simple Bludger attack.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“That's all I know, Draco. Now, come on. We'll go to the hospital wing and Hannah can give you more information.”  
He followed her through the silent castle. He supposed the match was still going on.  
Two beds were occupied when they entered the hospital wing, one by Scorpius and one by Rose Granger-Weasley and they were apparently having a heated argument.  
“Don't pretend, Malfoy! You know that this was your tactic!” Rose was almost screaming. “You wanted me to end up here, so you can win by goals because Bowker knew that you wouldn't have a chance of catching the Snitch against James!”  
“And it's working, isn't it?”  
“Knock it off, you two.” Hannah Longbottom interrupted.  
“I want to get back to the match,” Rose demanded.  
“Absolutely not!” Hannah said.  
“But I have to help them win.”  
“I said no.”  
Hannah waved her wands and curtains appeared between Scorpius's and Rose's beds. Draco hurried over to Scorpius's bed. Scorpius was sitting in up, looking completely fine and also slightly smug.  
“Hi Dad,” He said grinning when he saw Draco and Ginny enter. “We're winning.”  
“That's great, Scorpius, what happened?”  
“I don't know I got hit by a Bludger and I remember feeling a bit dizzy and then I suddenly woke up here. I don't know what everyone is making such a big fuss about, though.”  
“It was scary, Scorpius,” Albus said. He was sitting on a chair next to the bed, holding Scorpius's hand. “If Lily hadn't caught on what was happening so quickly, you could have been seriously hurt.”  
“Yes, but she did and I wasn't and I'm fine now.”  
“Scorpius, Draco, I need to talk to you two.” Hannah summoned three chairs to Scorpius's bed and sat down on one of them, gesturing at Draco and Ginny to do the same. She had this serious look on her face, that Healers always had when they gave you bad news. Draco knew it too well not to notice.  
She cleared her throat. “So, as Scorpius said, he got hit by a Bludger to the chest during the match. Shortly afterwards he started to bleed into his lungs, which was why he lost consciousness and nearly fell off his broom. Lily saw it and caught him and when she realized that he was having trouble breathing she brought him here. I was able to stop the bleeding at once and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong any more now. But, as you probably know, this should not happen after a simple Bludger attack. What is more, when Scorpius arrived here he had severe bruises all over his chest. I have spoken to St. Mungo's Healers over the Floo and with Scorpius's family history in mind we ran a few tests.” She swallowed. It seemed to take her a lot of effort not to look away from them. “Unfortunately they confirmed our suspicion that this is the Greengrass curse showing up in Scorpius.”  
The next few moments Draco erased forever from his memory.

He was standing in the corridor slamming his fist repeatedly against the wall.  
“Draco, stop it!” Ginny tried to grab his wrists but he pulled them easily from her grasp. She took out her wand. “Stop!”  
When he didn't she waved her wand. She bound his hands tightly behind his back. He wanted to yell at her, but there was too much inside him trying to struggle out at once that he couldn't get his head around single words or sentences. He felt himself stupidly gulping for air and just wanted to scream.  
“Draco, listen to me,” Ginny hissed. She was standing in front of him, looking fiercely into his panicking eyes. “You can't fall apart now. I know you want to and it feels like you don't have a choice, but you need to listen very carefully to what I tell you now.” He heard her voice shake slightly. “You have a son, Draco. He's in there. He's scared. He trusts you more than anyone else in the world. He needs you to be with him right now. You can't break down now, because Scorpius needs you to be his father now more than ever. So you need to hold it together. You need to get back inside and be with your son.”  
“I can't,” Draco whispered in a choking voice.  
“Yes, you can. You're a parent. It's what we do. You have to do this.”  
He breathed in shakily, closed his eyes for a second and nodded.  
She unbound him.  
“It's OK to be weak. It's not OK to leave,” she said before they re-entered the hospital wing.  
The curtains were still drawn to block Scorpius's bed from view. It seemed to take Draco a long time to reach it. Scorpius and Albus were looking at him with equally wide eyes. Albus was clutching Scorpius's hand so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.  
Draco sat back down next to the bed, numbly taking Scorpius's other hand.  
“I'm sorry,” he heard himself say in a hollow voice.  
He realized that he couldn't bear looking at Scorpius, so he put his head on the bed, next to Scorpius's chest and buried his face in the sheets.  
He felt Scorpius extract his arm from his grip and laying it gently onto Draco's head.  
Isn't this wrong, Draco thought. Shouldn't comforting go the other way?  
From what felt like very far away he heard someone entering the ward and Hannah saying “Honestly, another one? Are they playing Quidditch or human chess?”  
And then Rose's voice saying “James?”  
He heard Ginny pass him as she rounded the curtains.  
“Oh my God, is he OK?”  
“Yes, he's fine. He took two Bludgers to the head. I think I'm going to have a word with the Slytherins about their tactic.”  
“We're so going to lose this match,” Rose groaned.  
“Dad?” Scorpius asked quietly.  
Draco lifted his head to look at him.  
“Does that mean I won't be able to play Quidditch any more?”  
“Yes, it does.”  
“Too bad. I'm quite good.”  
“I know.”

One more Gryffindor player was brought in before the match ended. From what Draco gathered Gryffindor admitted defeat. As both team's Seekers were out of the game that was the only way to end it. The teams tried to visit their injured team mates, but Hannah threw them all out. She was furious about getting four patients from one match. Rose and the other Gryffindor were lying in their beds sulking and James was still unconscious when Hannah finally rejoined them at Scorpius's bed.  
“Draco could I have a word?” She asked.  
“Yes.” He stood up and followed her into her office.  
“Sit down,” she said, offering him the seat across her desk. He did so.  
“How could this have happened?” Draco asked. “They told us when Scorpius was born that it was unlikely.”  
“Unlikely, yes, but not impossible. I'm sorry. Curses like this are usually satisfied with one casualty. But not always.”  
“What happens now?”  
“I'm going to keep Scorpius here for a week, to get him onto all the potions he needs. I'll talk to the Healers who took care of your wife about that. But we have to tell him about what is going to change for him now. Would you like to do that or shall I?”  
“I should do it.”  
“Good. Is there anything you need from me? Anything I can do?”  
“Yes, actually. Could you give me a bottle of Sleeping Drought? Something tells me I'm going to be needing it.”  
“Of course.”

“When can I return to the dormitory?” Scorpius asked.  
“In a week,” Draco said, taking his seat next to the bed again.  
“A week? Why? I feel fine.” Scorpius protested.  
“You have to start taking potions now that the curse has surfaced. You know, like Mum used to. And it's better if you start with that under supervision.”  
Scorpius didn't look too happy at this.  
Ginny cleared her throat. “Albus, why don't we go outside for a bit,” she suggested, but it sounded more like an order and Albus seemed to take it as such. He gave Scorpius a kiss before following his mother reluctantly.  
“We need to talk, Scorpius,” Draco began.  
“Yes,” Scorpius agreed.  
“You have any questions or do you want me to start?”  
“Is it going to be like it was with Mum?” Scorpius asked.  
“Pretty much, yes. But you know it wasn't always as bad as it was in the end?”  
“Yes.”  
“You won't even notice it very much in the beginning. You'll only bleed more than usual if you get hurt, so all you have to do is make sure you don't injure yourself. Mrs Longbottom will show you what you have to do in case you should start bleeding. Mainly you just need to be a bit more careful. No Quidditch, I'm sorry. And you should wear your protective gloves during Herbology. You might get tired more quickly now that your body starts fighting the curse. Try to sleep as much as you need to and eat enough. It's possible that your body will need more food from now on. And absolutely no drinking and smoking, though I wouldn't want you to that anyway.”  
Scorpius gave him half a grin.  
“And stay clear of the Skiving Snack-Boxes, especially the Nosebleed Nougat.”  
“OK.”  
“And then there's one more thing.”  
“Yes?”  
Draco felt his face grow warm. “You should tell Albus that he needs to be careful. You know, so, er, so he doesn't hurt you. Accidentally.”  
“Why would – oh my – Dad!” Scorpius looked at him horrified. “Are you talking about sex?” He asked squeakily.  
Draco tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone completely dry. “Er, yes – I – yes,” he stuttered.  
“OK, that's new and unexpected and weird, but OK.”  
“Just keep it in mind and be careful, that's all.”  
“OK, yeah, I'll – we'll do that.”  
“Do you have any other questions?”  
Scorpius shrugged, looking at his hands which were twisted around each other in his lap.  
“You can ask me anything,” Draco reassured him.  
Scorpius looked up uneasily. “This is going to kill me, isn't it?”  
Draco's fist clenched around a bit of the sheets. “Eventually,” he said, “but not for a long time.”  
“I'm sorry.” Scorpius's voice was almost a whisper.  
“What for?”  
“Mum said dying is easier than having to live on. I'm sorry you'll get to do the hard part again.”  
Draco closed his eyes for a second, biting his lower lip so hard it hurt.  
“Is this going to change everything?” He heard Scorpius ask.  
He opened his eyes. “No,” he said. He saw that Scorpius heard how thick his voice sounded. “Not everything. Just some things.”

Draco pulled back the curtains surrounding Scorpius's bed when he heard Ginny's voice. She came stomping into the hospital wing, fuming with anger and dragging James behind her. Draco had neither realized that James had woken up nor that he had left.  
“Get back into bed!” Ginny snapped at her son. He obeyed quickly, looking disgruntled but also a bit frightened of her. “I don't think I've ever been more ashamed of one of my kid's behaviour! This is not how I raised you. I did not raise you to be such a bad loser!”  
“Mum, the Slytherins -”  
“I don't care! I don't care what they did. They won. You may not like it and you may not like that they won by putting half of your team in the hospital wing, but that is a part of Quidditch too. And if you lose you accept it and you learn from your mistakes and train harder next time. What you don't do is such a pathetic exhibition of what I just had to witness.”  
“But Lily should never -”  
“Lily is four years younger than you and acted a lot more mature than you did today. It took a lot of courage to do what she did, maybe you should acknowledge that instead of yelling at her. You're seventeen years old, James, it's time you grow up and stop acting like such a damn child! Now you stay here until Hannah tells you it's OK to get up, is that understood?”  
“Yes, Mum.”  
Ginny came over to Scorpius and Draco who were both looking at her questioningly.  
“Don't ask,” she said.  
“What happened?” Scorpius immediately asked.  
“You won, OK, Malfoy?” James called over from his bed. “Stop looking so smug. It's not like you had a lot to do with it.”  
“I swear James one more word and I will bind your tongue,” Ginny threatened.  
“And I guess that makes me Malfoy again.” Scorpius shrugged, looking unperturbed.  
Hannah came hurrying over. “I'll release Yann and Rose after dinner. Can I trust you two to spend the night here without fighting?” She looked sternly between Scorpius and James. Both boys nodded reluctantly.  
“Do you want me to come back tomorrow?” Draco asked his son. Scorpius nodded.  
“OK, I'll see you in the morning then.”  
“Bye, Dad.”

“Can I invite you for dinner?” Ginny asked, when they stepped into the corridor.  
“What?”  
“You don't look like you should be alone now. And I have a feeling that break down I interrupted earlier is still waiting to be continued.”  
Draco nodded. “OK.”  
They walked through the castle in silence. When they were outside the gates, Ginny offered him her arm. He took it and she Apparated them to outside the Potters' house.  
When they went inside Harry and Victoire were standing in the kitchen, cooking, while Teddy sat at the table cuddling his baby daughter.  
It was too much. Draco hurriedly left the kitchen before anyone could say anything. He couldn't stand it. Not being around that many people and certainly not seeing Teddy and his baby. He went into the living room and sank onto the couch. He covered his face in his hands.  
The thoughts came slowly at first and then they seemed to invade his brain all at once.  
“This is going to kill me, isn't it?” And Scorpius's frightened face.  
And Astoria's pale white one, saying “You'll take good care of him. I know you will.”  
But he hadn't.  
The Patronus in the forest telling him not to freak out in Ginny's voice.  
Astoria lying in bed covered in blood.  
“He started to bleed into his lungs.”  
Teddy cuddling his daughter.  
And Draco holding his new-born son. Astoria looking so weak, but smiling widely and telling him that this is worth everything.  
“You won't be alone when I leave, Draco. You'll always have him.”  
“I'm sorry you get to do the hard part again.”  
“You have a son, Draco.” His hands bound tightly behind his back.  
“Are you sure, this is wise, Draco? That family is cursed.” His parents.  
“But I love her.”  
“Are you sure about this?” Astoria, more gently. “Don't you think you could do better than me?”  
“Never.”  
And above all this one thought, that he couldn't keep out: I am going to watch my son die.

He was standing in the middle of the room, his wand in his hand, everything around him smashed and broken when someone entered. He thought it was Ginny, thought for a second that she would come and hold him like she'd held him after the funeral.  
“Are you done?”  
Draco turned around. Harry was standing in the doorway, looking at his smashed living room in mild indifference.  
Draco thought he should probably apologize, but when he opened his mouth no words came out, so he closed it again.  
Harry pointed his wand at the couch, which mended itself and gestured for Draco to sit down. He shoved a mug into Draco's hands as he sat down next to him.  
“Seriously? Tea?” Draco asked. His voice sounded a little hoarse and he wondered if he'd been shouting.  
“I put some whiskey in it.”  
Draco took a sip. It burned his tongue.  
Harry started repairing the rest of the room.  
Draco drank his tea hastily, even though it was far too hot. He relished in the pain of it.  
“Sorry about the room,” Draco said.  
“Don't be. As you see, it bounced right back,” Harry said indicating the restored living room. “Dinner is ready. You want to join us?”  
Draco nodded. They got up and went into the kitchen.  
He didn't speak during dinner. He just sat there, eating a little, mainly just playing with his food and listening to the others' conversation. Nobody seemed to expect anything from him, they just let him sit there. It didn't feel good, Draco couldn't imagine that anything would ever feel good again, but at least it was bearable. He guessed that was a start.  
They offered him Albus's room for the night. He accepted. When Harry showed him inside, the suitcase Draco had left in the Muggle inn that morning was standing next to the bed. He didn't ask how it had got there.  
“Why was Ginny at Hogwarts?” He asked instead. The question had been in his head the whole time, but had always been blocked by more important matters.  
“Hannah didn't know how to contact you. So, she Flooed us and Ginny went over there.”  
Draco nodded.  
“You need anything else?” Harry asked.  
“No, thanks.”  
Harry left and Draco took out the Sleeping Drought. He didn't want to have to dream tonight.

He left for Hogwarts after breakfast, to find Scorpius sitting in bed and playing Exploding Snap with the Potter children. James seemed to have forgotten his defeat from the day before. He was still wearing a turban-like bandage around his head, but looking fine otherwise.  
“Hello Dad,” Scorpius called. Draco could tell that he had already taken his potions for the first time this morning.  
“Hey Scorpius, how are you?”  
“Weird, really weird. I'm – this feels so strange. Is it supposed to feel like this? Mum never said it felt like this. Do you think this is right? Is there -”  
“Scorpius,” Draco interrupted him, “it takes some time to get used to. Trust me, it's supposed to be like this.”  
“I don think so. This can't be right. I don't think anyone can get used to this. Mum was definitely never like this.”  
Draco pulled up a chair next to James and sat down. “I know. But she told me that it was really weird for her too, when she first started treatment.”  
“It's not a good feeling, Dad. I feel all jumpy, like I can't sit still and have to go outside and run around the lake, but at the same time I feel so weak and actually don't want to move at all.”  
“I think that's what's to be expected here.”  
Scorpius looked horrified. “I can't live the rest of my life like this! It's horrible!”  
“I know. But it'll get better really soon, I promise.”  
Scorpius looked at him as if he seriously doubted that.  
“I think it's your turn,” Draco said, indicating the cards.  
Scorpius played one and the whole game blew up. Scorpius gave a frightened yell and leapt into Albus's arms.  
“It's just the game,” Draco said calmly, “It blows up, remember?” After a few seconds Scorpius stopped shivering. He nodded.  
“Yeah, right.”  
Albus seemed unwilling to let Scorpius go. Instead he skidded from his chair onto Scorpius's bed. He looked scared.  
“I promise it'll pass in a few days,” Draco said. “But maybe you should play something else today.”  
“We tried Chess,” Lily said. “Didn't work.”  
“What do you want to do?” James asked Scorpius, who still had his face buried in Albus's jumper.  
“Nothing that can explode,” Scorpius mumbled. He looked up.  
“We don't have to play anything,” Lily said giving Scorpius and uncharacteristically gentle look. “Just tell us what you feel like.”  
Scorpius looked a bit embarrassed. “Can you read to me?” He asked.  
“Of course,” Lily said, “what would you like me to read?”  
“It's inside the drawer of the bedside table,” Scorpius said. Lily opened it and took out a very heavy book.  
“You're kidding, right?” James asked. “Why do you even have that here?”  
“Albus brought it over yesterday in case I got bored.”  
James snorted, got up and threw himself back onto his own bed again.  
“Which chapter, Scorpius?” Lily asked.  
“The one about the Second Wizarding War,” Scorpius asked.  
Draco caught Albus's eyes and exchanged an exasperated look with him. It was Scorpius's favourite chapter.  
Lily opened Hogwarts: A History and began to read.  
James fell asleep quickly. Scorpius and Albus were cuddling in the hospital bed, while Lily's voice told them about Dumbledore's Army. Draco listened as though the story had nothing to do with him. As though he was hearing about those brave teenagers who had rebelled against their evil Head Mistress for the first time. He knew his name was mentioned in the chapter, forever linked to Albus Dumbledore's death and the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. But it didn't matter very much. It had not been murder after all. And he had heard Scorpius read the chapter aloud so many times that hearing it and the part he had played had become normal at some point.  
He looked at Scorpius being held tightly by Albus. Just as Draco had held Astoria and Scorpius had read to them. It was too similar and Draco knew Scorpius realized that too, when he saw that his son was crying.

He went back to the Potters' that night, even though he didn't know whether he was welcome there. No one there seemed surprised to see him. Teddy wordlessly put a plate more on the table. In the end he stayed for a week.  
He visited Scorpius at Hogwarts while the other students had classes, so he wouldn't have to be alone. Scorpius's body adjusted to the potions quickly. By Tuesday he was considerably less jumpy and calm enough to carry a normal conversation. On Wednesday he felt strong enough to get out of bed for the first time and on Friday Hannah allowed Draco to take him down to the lake for a walk.  
When he didn't have lessons Albus refused to leave Scorpius's side. Draco even had the suspicion, that Albus snuck into the hospital wing at night when Hannah had gone to bed. James and Lily also visited occasionally as well as the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team.  
When he wasn't at Hogwarts Draco spent most of his time cuddled up on the Potters' couch, watching the Potters and Lupins going about their daily lives and avoiding speaking with anyone.  
“You could at least help a bit around here instead of sulking all day,” Victoire snapped at him one day. Harry, Ginny and Teddy were all at work, so Draco was alone in the house with her and the baby.  
“What do you want me to do?” Draco asked.  
“Could you make lunch?”  
“Sorry, can't cook.”  
Victoire muttered something under her breath that sounded distinctly like “spoiled brat.”  
He ignored her.  
“Can you at least take Flora while I do it?” She asked.  
“Sure.” She gave him the baby and left for the kitchen.  
Draco rolled onto his back and put Flora on his chest. She was gurgling happily.  
“Hello there,” Draco said, “Flora, isn't it? I don't think we've been properly introduced yet. I'm Draco, I'm your first cousin twice removed, I think. Something like that. Doesn't matter anyway, our family isn't that great really. Stick to the Weasleys. I never thought I'd say that. Don't repeat that, you hear me?”  
He put his hand onto her stomach. She took his index finger and tried to put it into her mouth.  
He closed his eyes, feeling the warm pressure of another living, breathing person against his chest. This little girl who seemed to feel safe lying there, who relied on him and trusted him.  
A rumbling sound made him look up. Ginny was stumbling out of the fireplace. She looked up and smiled delighted.  
“What?” Draco asked.  
“Stay right there, don't move,” Ginny said, already half out of the room. “I'll be right back.”  
She was indeed back within a few seconds, holding a camera.  
“No way.” Draco tried to sit up, but it was too late. There was a click and a flash of light.  
“I'm sorry, but you two looked so cute there,” Ginny said.  
“I'm not cute,” Draco grumbled.

Scorpius was allowed to leave the hospital wing on Saturday just in time to watch the match between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. That night the Potters had Hermione, Ron and George over for dinner, which reminded Draco that he didn't belong there and he returned to the Manor.


	5. On The Ground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James proves to be a bad loser. Scorpius struggles with the new situation. Ravenclaw plays Hufflepuff.

He woke up in the hospital wing.  
Damn.  
He looked around. Rose and Yann were lying in the beds opposite him. The bed next to James was hidden from view by curtains.  
“What happened?” He asked.  
“You got hit by a Bludger,” Rose answered.  
“Two Bludgers actually,” Yann corrected her.  
“And the match?” James asked, reaching up to his head and feeling a thick turban of bandages around it under his fingers.  
“We lost,” Rose said simply.  
“What?” James leapt out of bed. “No, that's not possible. There was no Seeker in the match. It can't have ended.”  
“Lily conceded defeat, James.”  
“Lily? But I'm the Captain -”  
“And she took over for you when you were knocked out,” Yann explained.  
“No way.” James sprinted out of the hospital wing.  
“James, come back!” He heard Rose call behind him, but he didn't care.  
He went straight to the Gryffindor common room. The uninjured rest of the team was sitting in front of the fireplace, looking very gloomy.  
“LILY!” James roared when he entered.  
Lily got up with a sigh. “Here he goes,” he heard her mumble to the others.  
“How could you do that? We were the better team! How could you give up?”  
“James, they were leading by more than two-hundred points. Even if you had come back and caught the Snitch, we would have lost.”  
“It was not your decision to make!”  
“Yes, it was!” Lily was yelling now, too.  
“If you're too stupid to dodge Bludgers, somebody else has to take over and I did and I made it my decision. I didn't want to embarrass us in front of the whole school any longer!”  
“You didn't want to embarrass us, so you admitted defeat?” James almost screamed.  
“You know what?” Lily shot back, looking very much like their mum in that instant. “I'm not having that conversation with you. Go back to the hospital wing.”  
She stormed up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. James turned around and ran out of the common room again, through the castle down to the dungeons, where he knew the Slytherin common room was. He hammered against the wall.  
“Let me in!” He shouted.  
To his surprise it did after a few moments. Somebody inside must have heard him.  
The Slytherins were celebrating. A few laughed when they saw him storm towards Bowker who got up, facing him.  
“You should be in bed, Potter,” she said calmly.  
“What the hell, Bowker? You call that Quidditch? Injuring every member of the opposing team?”  
“We didn't break any rules.”  
“Maybe, but you did play the ugliest game I've ever seen. And you made my thirteen year old sister concede defeat, even though it was not her decision to make.”  
“You lost, Potter, OK? You lost because we played better.”  
“We were the better team and you know it.”  
“Yes I do. And if you hadn't been arrogant enough to underestimate us, if you had actually put a bit of effort and hard work into your training, you would've won, but you didn't. That is entirely on you, so don't go blaming me for this. Or your sister for that matter.”  
“You -”  
“James!”  
He turned around, taken aback. His mother was standing at the foot of the stairs which, presumably led to the dormitories. She looked livid.  
“Outside. Now.” She said in a threateningly low voice.  
He obeyed at once, making his way through the crowd of Slytherins again who were now all openly laughing at him.  
His mother followed him and when they were outside in the corridor, she grabbed his upper arm and started pulling him behind her through the castle, back to the hospital wing.

When his mother and Draco Malfoy had left, Hannah pulled the curtains around Scorpius's bed shut again.  
“What's that about anyway?” James asked.  
“Shut up!” Rose hissed.  
“What?”  
She put a finger to her mouth and gave him such a stern look that he closed his mouth. She conjured a piece of parchment and a quill from thin air – James had to admire her conjuring skills – and wrote something down. Then she got up, walked over to him and gave him the parchment to read.  
They told Scorpius he has the same illness his mother died from. That's why he collapsed during the match.  
He looked up at her, horrified.  
She gave a sad little nod and went back over to her own bed.  
James wondered whether he should ask Scorpius if he could do anything or try to comfort him. But he couldn't figure out what to say, so instead he spent the rest of the evening feeling miserable.

Rose and Yann were allowed to leave the hospital wing after dinner.  
“Can you send Lily here, please?” James asked Rose, before she left. “Tell her it's really important.”  
“OK,” Rose said.  
“Scorpius?” James asked tentatively through the curtains, when they were alone.  
“Yes?”  
“Can we talk?”  
There was no answer, but a few second later, the curtains opened themselves. Scorpius was lying on his side, pointing his wand at them.  
“How are you?” James asked.  
Scorpius sniffed. “Can you just continue being angry at me for winning?” He asked in a small voice. “I think I liked that better.”  
“Sorry. I don't think I can do that,” James admitted.  
Scorpius nodded.  
“Does Albus know?” James asked.  
“Yes.”  
“How did he take it?”  
“You know, the way Albus takes things.”  
“And you?”  
Scorpius didn't answer. Instead he started to cry. James sat up. He had no idea what to do. Scorpius turned his head, so that his face was pressed into his pillow to stifle the sobs. And James sat there and wanted to do something, anything to help, but he knew there was nothing. Nothing that could make this right.  
Hannah came out of her office and went over to Scorpius's bed, sitting down beside him and rubbing his back gently. She conjured a glass with her other hand and poured a potion inside.  
“Scorpius,” she said in a quiet voice, “drink this, please.”  
He looked up, his face puffy-eyed and blotchy. He took the glass without questioning and drank. Before he could finish, he had fallen asleep. Hannah took the glass from Scorpius's limp hand and put it on his bed-side table.  
“If he wakes up during the night, tell him to take the rest of it,” she told James.  
He nodded.  
She went into her office again.  
Lily entered the hospital wing a few minutes later. She went over to James's bed, her arms crossed in front of her chest, looking sour.  
“What do you want?” She asked curtly.  
“I'm sorry, Lily, okay? We'll talk about it tomorrow and I'll give you a proper apology, but there's something more important now.”  
“What?”  
James glanced towards Scorpius's bed to make absolutely sure he was fast asleep. Lily turned around too. The look on her face already told James the answer to the question, he'd wanted to ask next.  
“Did Rose tell you?”  
She nodded.  
“Can you go to Albus and make sure he's OK? I can't get out until tomorrow morning.”  
“You want me to go to the Slytherin common room, after the show you put on there earlier?” Lily asked coolly.  
“Please? For Albus?”  
“Of course I'll go. But you owe me.”  
“Thanks.”

Neville looked in on James and Scorpius on his way to bed.  
“How are you?” He asked James in a whisper so as not to wake Scorpius.  
“I'm OK. Sorry about the match.”  
“Don't worry. You'll do better next time.”  
Neville disappeared into Hannah's office which James knew connected the Longbottom's bedroom to the hospital wing. As soon as Neville had closed the door behind himself, Albus materialized between James's and Scorpius's beds. James let out a gasp of surprise.  
“Where did you get that from?” He asked, pointing at his own Invisibility Cloak in Albus's hands.  
Albus shrugged. “Lily gave it to me.”  
“Where did Lily get it from?”  
“She stole it out of your dormitory, obviously. She said you owed her.”  
“Right. But what are you doing here?”  
“I want to spend the night here.” Albus sat down on the edge of Scorpius's bed and gently stroked his cheek. “I've asked one of the house elves to wake me in the morning before Hannah and Neville get up.”  
Scorpius's eyelids twitched, before they fluttered open. He stared at Albus for a long time in a way that made James quite sure that he was not really awake yet.  
“Hey,” Albus whispered after a while, cupping Scopius's face in his hands and sounding so vulnerable that James felt he was intruding on something very intimate.  
Scorpius blinked a few times, looked around the room, towards James and back to Albus.  
“What -?” He mumbled confused.  
“Can I stay here with you?” Albus asked.  
Scorpius nodded.  
“Can you move over a little, then?” Albus asked.  
Scorpius made room and Albus slipped under the covers next to him, pulling Scorpius into a protective embrace. Scorpius put his head on Albus's chest.  
“Your feet are cold,” he mumbled.  
“Sorry,” Albus whispered.  
James cleared his throat. “Hannah said, he should take the rest of the potion if he woke up.” He indicated the half-full glass still standing next to Scorpius's bed. Albus took it and gave it to Scorpius. This time it took only a few small sips for Scorpius to fall asleep, his head still resting on Albus's chest.

James was woken by Hannah and Scorpius's voices drifting over to his bed. He opened his eyes. It took him a few moments to remember where he was and what had happened. In the hospital wing, right, he thought. Because they'd lost the match. Very much. And then he remembered why Scorpius was here.  
He looked over. Hannah had put five different potions onto Scorpius's bedside-table and was patiently explaining them to him. Albus wasn't there. James supposed he was at breakfast.  
“You probably won't feel well for the first few day,” he heard Hannah explain to Scorpius, “but it's going to get better.”  
Scorpius took the potions, pulled a grimace and settled down onto his bed comfortably.  
Hannah took the flasks and went back to her office.  
“Morning,” James yawned.  
“Good morning,” Scorpius greeted, obviously trying to sound cheerful.  
“Did you have a good night?” James asked, winking.  
Scorpius's anxious face softened into a smile. “Yeah.”  
As James began eating his breakfast the effects of Scorpius's potions seemed to kick in and it was not fun to watch. He sagged limply into his pillows, breathing fast and heavy while his eyes grew very wide, darting nervously around the room. Thankfully, Hannah came back quickly.  
“Is this normal?” Scorpius asked, sounding out of breath.  
“Yes,” Hannah said, “I'm sorry. Do you want another blanket?”  
Scorpius had started shivering slightly. He nodded. She conjured one. Just as Hannah began tugging it neatly in around Scorpius's legs, Lily entered the hospital wing.  
“Hello, Scorpius,” she greeted, “Albus sent me to tell you he'll be here in a bit. He's just having a word with Hugo about the commentary yesterday.” She strolled over to Scorpius, completely ignoring James. “Are you OK?”  
“No, not really,” Scorpius breathed.  
“Need a distraction?”  
He nodded.  
“Chess?”  
He nodded again.  
Albus came in when Lily had just finished setting up the chess board. He looked tired, probably because he'd gotten up so early that morning.  
“Your detention's Thursday night,” he told James.  
James sighed. “Thought you might forget,” he grumbled.  
“Not a chance.”  
“What do I have to do?”  
“Come here and keep Scorpius company, I'm on prefect duty for the Halloween decorations that night.”  
James's face lit up. “Wow, that's a good detention.”  
“Only because I know you'd never have told Hugo to say that. You're not that much of an idiot.”  
“Then why do I get a detention at all?” James asked.  
“Because I stick to my word.”  
“Did you punish Hugo?”  
“Tried to, but it turned out, Neville had already taken care of it.” Albus turned to Scorpius and Lily.  
“Everything all right here?” He asked.  
“I don't think I can do this,” Scorpius said in a high voice, looking at the chess board.  
“What?” Albus asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed and taking Scorpius's hand casually.  
“Chess. I doesn't make sense.”

He was allowed to leave the hospital wing for lunch, which was not a pleasant affair. The Gryffindors were angry at him for the disastrous loss and the rest of the school had obviously heard about what had happened in the Slytherin common room. He did his best to ignore the pointing and giggling that he knew was taking place behind his back.  
When he'd finished, he went over to Hugo.  
“Can you come outside with me?” He asked.  
“Sure,” Hugo got up. He waved to where Freddie was sitting at the Hufflepuff table. Freddie came trotting over and followed them outside onto the grounds. “Is this about the commentary?” Hugo asked. “Because I told Neville and Albus, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have said it. It was just a heat-of-the-moment, speaking without thinking first thing.”  
“It's not about that. I need you to tell me about everything that happened yesterday after I was knocked out.”  
“Oh, OK.”  
They took a stroll around the lake, as it was too cold to sit down in the grass. Hugo gave a detailed account of the match and Freddie walked beside them in silence, listening intently to Hugo's report, as though he had not been present at the match.  
Hugo and Freddie were inseparable, even now that they were in different houses. Hugo was the only one at Hogwarts Freddie talked to. No one really knew why he didn't speak to anyone else.

“So, are you going to be allowed to watch the match on Saturday?” James asked.  
“Hannah said probably. You know, Dad took me down to the lake this morning.” Scorpius said.  
“Nice.”  
“And you? Have you recovered from the loss?”  
“Pretty much. It feels like I spent the whole week apologizing. “  
“Bowker told me you came to her and congratulated her on our win.”  
“Don't look so smug. Yes, I did. And then I had to deal with my own team.”  
It was Thursday evening and as promised James had gone to the hospital wing to keep Scorpius company, while Albus helped decorate the castle for Halloween.  
“So, what do we do?” James asked looking expectantly at Scorpius.  
“I, er, could I complain a bit?” Scorpius asked.  
“What do you mean?”  
“I mean,” Scorpius drew a breath, “you know, Albus and Dad are so worried about me all the time. I'm not sure they could take me telling them how I really am. I know what it's like to be in their position after all. I was just wondering if maybe I could tell you, because it won't hurt you that much.”  
“Of course,” James said, “but just for the record, I'm not indifferent to how you are feeling. You know that I like you.”  
“Yeah, of course, but you don't love me, that's the point.”  
“OK, so. How are you, Scorpius?”  
“I, um, I'm not too well. This is a bit horrible, I guess. I mean it does get better every day, but I still feel so exhausted all the time and I can't sleep without taking a potion. And I asked Mrs Longbottom and she said that's going to stay this way and I don't like that. And I don't think it's fair that I'm not allowed to play Quidditch any more and that I will never be allowed to drink alcohol. And you are all so nice to me, which is starting to freak me out, because it means that this is really serious. And I don't want to be this person that everyone feels sorry for and I just want to wake up and find out it's just a bad dream -” A tear spilled from Scorpius's eyes onto his cheek, when his voice broke.  
James sat there, not sure what to do. “That sucks,” he said quietly.  
Scorpius nodded.  
“But, there's something you should know. We're not nice to you because we feel sorry for you, or at least not only. We're nice to you because we like you and we care about you.”  
“I know,” Scorpius whispered, “I just mean that -”  
“I know what you mean. But I'm sure it'll get better. You gave us all quite a fright during the match and the first few days with your new potions were actually pretty disturbing to watch. I'm sure that once you return to the school and things get back to normal, or at least more normal than they are now, people will start treating you normal again, too.”  
Scorpius put his face in his hands. “I just want this to stop,” he whispered.

Everyone who was not a Ravenclaw supported Hufflepuff, which meant that three-quarter's of the spectators were canary-yellow. All the Weasley cousins and Scorpius were sitting together, except for Hugo, who was doing the commentary again and Louis and Lucy, who were Ravenclaws. Louis played Chaser on the Ravenclaw team and was their captain and Lucy sat with her friends. James sort of liked the idea that ever since Freddie had been sorted into Hufflepuff last year, they'd had a Weasley in every house. He hadn't always felt that away. It had taken him some time to get used to the fact that his brother was a Slytherin. But now he was sort of proud of them all sitting together and having a good time. Freddie was sitting between James and Scorpius, looking as though he would have liked to be invisible, as he always did when Hugo wasn't around. Albus was fussing way to much over Scorpius. On James's other side Rose and Lily were getting ready to study their next opponents, Rose had actually brought parchment and a quill with her to take notes.  
“Welcome to the second game of the season,” Hugo greeted the school, “it's Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw. Everyone is hoping that this match is going to be less bloody than the last one was. And here are the teams. The Ravenclaw team is led by Louis Weasley. They are of course favourites to win the cup as they won it last year, but it also puts quite some pressure on Weasley's team. Meanwhile the Hufflepuffs as the underdog in this competition might be getting ready for a similar surprise as the Slytherins did last week against Gryffindor.”  
They weren't. Ravenclaw flattened Hufflepuff. Rose took furious notes on the Ravenclaws excellent flying skills.  
“You know, Freddie, you should have tried out for the team,” James told his cousin, unable to resist. “You fly better than any of them.”  
Freddie seemed to shrink in his seat.  
Damn, James thought. He should have known, it was one of those things you didn't say to Freddie.

“What are we going to do about the Ravenclaws?” Lily asked him later in the common room.  
“One step at a time,” James said. “We'll play Hufflepuff next, so let's worry about them first. We should make sure not to underestimate them like we did the Slytherins even after the match today. And we don't only need to win, we need to win high to make up for the last match.”  
The portrait hole opened and Hugo came in.  
“Where were you?” Rose asked.  
“Hospital wing,” Hugo answered.  
“Why?” Lily asked.  
“Freddie broke his arm.”  
“What? How?” James asked.  
“No one knows. He won't say. But he looked scared.”  
“Freddie always looks scared,” Lily pointed out.  
“Not always,” Hugo said, sounding angry.  
“Sorry, I'm just saying -”  
“But usually he tells me what's going on.”  
“You think someone hurt him?” James asked concerned.  
“Who'd hurt Freddie?” Rose asked.  
“I don't know, mean people.”  
“Maybe he just fell and is too embarrassed to tell Hugo,” Rose said.  
“Yeah,” Hugo sighed, sitting down next to her. “Maybe.”


	6. Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's supposed to be a nice and quiet Christmas break for the Potters, Malfoys and Lupins. But. Flora gives her parents a hard time. James doesn't get as much sleep as he'd like. Scorpius screws up big time on his birthday, leading to Draco getting arrested for suspected child abuse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently I upset some people with the last two chapters. So here's my warning again: The next two to three chapters are going to be sad and upsetting. But I promise it'll get better after that and I promise I won't kill anyone.

The Christmas holidays were a relief. Draco had never felt more alone than during the past few weeks, but now Scorpius was back home. Scorpius was home and well, much better than Draco had expected, actually. They spent the first days of the holidays at the Manor before joining the Potters for Christmas.  
They had a nice Christmas Eve. Teddy and his family were at Shell Cottage, they would be joining them the next day. James, Albus, Scorpius and Lily annoyed Ginny by playing Gobstones. Draco supposed that annoying Ginny was the only reason they did it. Albus turned out to be really good at it and kept dropping hints that he might join the Slytherin Gobstone Team. James seemed to compensate every loss with Eggnog, which did not make him any better at it. At some point Albus and Scorpius decided to stop playing for the sake of James's liver. Instead they retreated to the couch.  
“Albuscorpius, get a room!” Lily called over to them. She had started to call them by one name at some point during the last year. Scorpius seemed to want to answer, but Albus kissed him passionately, blocking his words.  
Meanwhile, Harry and Ginny were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors over who should bring their drunk son to bed.  
Draco shook his head. This family was so weird sometimes.

Everyone looked very happy and content the next morning, except for James.  
“Merry Christmas, James,” Lily sang in a falsely sweet voice, “what's the matter with you? You're not hung over, are you?” She smirked.  
“You're evil,” James said. “But,” he looked up from his breakfast, “that's not all. I don't want to look at anyone, but some people here need to cast a Silencing Charm before having sex in this house.”  
Harry spluttered. “I thought we did!” He turned to his wife. “I thought you did.”  
Ginny tried and failed to stop herself from laughing. “I did, Harry.”  
Harry looked confused. “Then what -?”  
“Oh my God, Dad, I don't mean you. But – gross.”  
Everyone turned their heads to look at Albus and Scorpius. Albus had gone tomato-red and looked as though he was desperately hoping the floor might open and swallow him.  
“Honestly, I'm surprised no one else heard you,” James said.  
“Who said no one did?” Draco grumbled.  
Scorpius nearly choked on his food. Ginny gripped Lily's arm, to stop her from falling from her chair from laughter.  
“James, they can't do magic outside school, they're still under-age. You know that,” Ginny said.  
“They could have asked someone to do it for them,” James protested.  
“Please kill me,” Draco heard Albus whisper to Scorpius.  
Ginny cleared her throat, looking around the table, her eyes wondering from Lily, who had tears of laughter running down her face to James and Draco looking grumpy, to Albus and Scorpius looking very embarrassed, to her husband who looked stunned with horror.  
“Harry, are you there?” She asked, snapping her fingers before his eyes. He blinked.  
“You heard them?” He asked Draco in some sort of horrified sympathy. Draco nodded.  
“You're such idiots,” Ginny said simply. “It's just sex. We've all done it. Or will do it in the future.”  
“That doesn't mean -” James began.  
“Yeah, I think we got the point, James,” Ginny interrupted him, “let it go. Presents?”  
They went into the living room to unwrap their presents.  
“It's not the same without Teddy,” Lily whined.  
“He'll be here tonight,” Harry said.  
“But it's not the same!”  
Draco got another Weasley sweater from Ginny, grey this year. He raised his eyebrows.  
“Why?” He asked simply. He only wore black clothes. She knew that.  
“You're welcome,” she said. “Did Astoria never tell you, you're too pale to wear black?”  
He frowned. Everyone around him was already changing into their sweaters. He left for the bathroom to get changed as well.  
“I like it,” Scorpius declared when Draco re-entered the room. Ginny grinned.  
Draco took the other two presents from his small pile and looked who they were from. One said 'Dad', the other 'Draco' in what looked like Ginny's handwriting. He wondered why he would get two presents from her. A weird feeling was taking over his stomach. He opened the present. It was a silver frame with a photograph of Albus and Scorpius kissing under a tree in it. There was a note on the backside.  
Sorry, completely forgot about this.  
Lily  
Not Ginny's handwriting. Well. He looked up and smiled at Lily.  
“Thanks,” he said.  
“I did promise.”  
“By the way,” Ginny said, “as Teddy and Vicky are coming tonight. James, can you share a room with Albus and Scorpius, so Draco can sleep in your room?”  
“No way!” James said. “Not after last night.”  
“James, don't be ridiculous.”  
“I'm not being ridiculous. They're a couple. Don't you think they deserve some privacy and don't you think I deserve some ignorance?”  
Albus and Scorpius looked as though they agreed.  
Ginny sighed. “Then you have to move in with Lily.  
“No!” This time it was Lily who protested. “I'm a fourteen year-old girl. I deserve privacy too.”  
“Lily -”  
“Why can't I stay in my room?” James said.  
“And where's Draco going to sleep?” Ginny asked.  
“I don't mind sharing my room with him.”  
Ginny turned around to Draco. “Would that be OK for you?”  
Draco shrugged indifferent. “Sure.”

He woke up in the middle of the night. The baby was crying. Great. He'd thought after casting a Silencing Charm in Albus's room before bed he would be granted a quiet night. He sighed, turning around, but it was hopeless. He'd become a light sleeper during his marriage, especially when it came to crying children, because he'd mostly been the one to get up at night when Scorpius had cried. And later he had started waking up at the slightest disturbance in case Astoria needed him.  
“You awake?” He heard James mutter from the other bed.  
“Yes.”  
The lamp on James's night-stand flickered on.  
“What are you doing?” Draco asked, as James pulled out a book from under his bed.  
“Studying,” James grumbled. “Might as well get some homework done.”  
“Honestly?” Draco asked. “It's Christmas.”  
James shrugged and began to read, while Draco lay on his back, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the sleepless nights Scorpius had once caused him.  
After half an hour had passed and Flora still seemed to refuse to calm down, he got up, left the room and knocked on the door to Teddy and Vicky's bedroom.  
Teddy and Vicky were sitting in bed. Vicky was rocking the screaming baby, looking desperate. Her cheeks were wet from exhausted tears. Teddy next to her looked lost.  
They looked up when Draco entered.  
“You want me to take her?” He asked. “Seriously, I know what it's like. Just give her here and get some rest.”  
Vicky nodded, trembling. “Thank you,” she murmured as she handed Draco the baby. He saw Teddy put an arm around his wife as he left the room.  
“What's that about?” Jame asked, when Draco and Flora entered the room.  
“I thought if we're both awake anyway, at least her parents might get some sleep,” Draco answered. He started to walk around the room, rocking the screaming child in his arms. He held her under her belly, so that her head was lying in the crook of his elbow, her face away from his body. He started to talk to her in a low voice, telling her not to worry and that everything was going to be OK. She quieted down after a few minutes.  
James sat up, gaping. “How on earth did you do that?” He asked.  
Draco smiled. “I raised a child, James. I know all the tricks.”  
“And what is the trick?”  
“You want to try it?”  
“No.”  
“The trick is to show her everything's all right. When a baby cries, we get stressed and want her to calm down as quickly as possible. But how is she supposed to know that there's no reason to be upset when the person she relies on is in distress?”  
“It's that simple?” James asked incredulously.  
Draco smiled. “It's simple in theory. But it's not easy to stay calm when your child is upset. And it doesn't always work.” He looked down at the little figure in his arms and gently stroked Flora's back with his finger. He couldn't see her face, but he could tell that she'd fallen asleep from exhaustion. He looked up and saw James giving him a confused look. “What?” He asked.  
“You just – you don't really seem like the cuddly sort of father.”  
Draco had to laugh out loud at that. “I'm not,” he agreed, “but Astoria wasn't too well when Scorpius was little and she needed her sleep, so I was the one who got up during the nights most of the time.”  
James put his book aside. “So, can we go back to sleep now?” He asked.  
“I hope so.” Draco settled down Flora on the bed between himself and the wall, so there was no chance of her falling off the bed. He lay down beside her, pulling her to his chest, feeling her small quick breaths against him. James put out the lights and before Draco could get too emotional about the baby in his arms, he'd fallen asleep.

Flora woke up around six in the morning and was obviously hungry. She tried to suck on his arm and was not at all amused when nothing came from it. He brought her back to her parents. When he was back in his own bed he realized he missed her. He took a pillow and hugged it tightly against his chest.

James and Lily wanted to play Quidditch after breakfast.  
“Oh, can I join, please, Dad?” Scorpius begged.  
“No, Scorpius, you know you can't play Quidditch any more.”  
“But we'll play without Bludgers. It's not dangerous.”  
“It's still dangerous. You could fall or crash.”  
Scorpius sulked for the rest of the morning. Albus tried to cheer him up, but didn't have much success. Scorpius thoroughly ignored Draco until lunch, which was not a great feeling, but he guessed it was something every parent of a teenager had to go though at some point. He left Scorpius and Albus playing chess in the kitchen and played with Flora in the living room instead.  
“Do you two live here now?” He asked Teddy and Vicky who were huddled in front of the fireplace. Draco was lying on the couch, propped up against the armrest, Flora sitting on his stomach, her back supported by Draco's thighs.  
“Not officially,” Vicky answered. “But I don't like being alone at home all day when Teddy's at work. At least Ginny can do a lot of her work at home.”  
“Sounds like your Daddy is a busy man,” Draco told Flora, gently nudging the tip of her nose with his finger. She smiled widely.  
Harry came in. Draco looked around.  
“I thought you were playing Quidditch?” He asked.  
“It started snowing,” Harry said, “anyway, I wanted to ask you about Scorpius's birthday tomorrow.”  
“Yeah?”  
“You know, what sort of cake does he like? What should I make for dinner?”  
“Oh, er, so Scorpius likes chocolate cake and about dinner you should probably ask him yourself. Can I help with anything?”  
Harry raised his eyebrows. “Do you know how to bake a cake?”  
“No.”  
“Then, no.”

They all went to bed early that night, because Scorpius was an early-bird and they wanted to wake him. But Draco and James lay awake for quite some time.  
“What do you think are the odds of us having a quiet night?” James asked.  
“Between a four-month-old whose parents are on the edge of a nervous breakdown and a teenage couple who's just discovering sex, I guess slim.”  
“Yeah, that's what I thought.”  
“But while we're on the matter, what about you?” Draco asked.  
“What about me?”  
“Do you have girl-friend or boy-friend?”  
“None of your business.”  
“Fair enough,” Draco agreed.  
“Do you?” James asked after a moment.  
“None of your business.”  
Silence.  
“Yes, I have a girl-friend,” said James.  
“Who is she?”  
“Her name is Delia, she's in my year and we've been together for five weeks. Now you.”  
“I don't have anyone,” Draco said simply.  
“Would you like to have someone?” James asked.  
“Wouldn't we all?”  
“Anyone in particular?”  
Brown eyes boring into his, her grip on his wrist, the smell of her as she held him after the funeral and the way she'd smiled at him when he'd put on the grey sweater.  
“Yes, but I can't have her.”  
“Why not?”  
“Because she's dead, James.” He regretted the biting tone in his voice immediately.  
“I'm sorry, I didn't know you were talking about your wife.”  
“Who else would I be talking about?”  
“I don't know. It's been over two years hasn't it?”  
“Two years, three months and twenty-eight days,” Draco answered dully.  
“Guess that's an answer.”  
“Yes, that's the answer.”

He was woken by a gut-wrenching scream. He was already in the hallway before he realized what he was doing or that it was Albus who had screamed. He stumbled into Albus's room. For a moment he was sure that this had to be a nightmare, but his instincts had taken over his actions as his mind was slow to grasp on what was happening. He knelt beside Scorpius before he knew how he'd got there.  
Scorpius was naked, drenched in blood and seizing. Draco barely registered Albus's panicked cries and James entering behind him, gasping and pulling Albus away from Scorpius to give Draco space.  
Draco began to rummage in Scorpius's trunk for his potions. They had to be here, they had to be here. He'd give them to him and everything would be all right. He just had to find them.  
“WHERE ARE HIS POTIONS, ALBUS?” He heard himself roar.  
“I don't know,” he heard Albus whimper. He resisted the urge to shake him. The others had woken up and were coming into the room.  
“Lily, get back to bed,” he heard Ginny say sharply.  
“But -”  
“Back to your room, now!” He heard Ginny pull Lily away.  
“James, get St. Mungo's,” Draco said shakily, still rummaging through the trunk, “now!”  
James left the room.  
Draco turned to Harry. “I need Essence of Dittany.” Harry hurried off too. Teddy took Albus into his arms.  
“Al, what happened?” Draco heard him ask gently. But Albus seemed unable to speak, he was sobbing and shaking too much. “Al, breath. Slowly. You need to breath slowly and tell me what happened.”  
Harry returned with a flask. He unstoppered it for Draco, whose hands were shaking too much. Draco poured the liquid onto Scorpius's body, everywhere he was bleeding from, turning him on his stomach to see where the blood protruding from between his legs came from and trying to heal there too.  
“Albus, have you been drinking?” He heard Teddy ask quietly.  
Albus gave a whimper.  
“Get him out of here,” Draco pressed out between his teeth. Teddy stood up and guided Albus out of the room.  
James returned with an empty bottle. “Emergency Portkey,” he gasped. Harry conjured a towel and put it around Scorpius's waist. Scorpius was still seizing. Draco took Scorpius's hand and put it and his own on the Portkey. He knew it would go off as soon as James touched it with the tip of his wand. James pulled his wand and the next thing Draco knew they were being pulled into nothingness.

He hadn't realized, that James had put his hand on the Portkey as well, but he emerged with them in the healing room. Three Healers were standing ready. They put Scorpius onto a bed and ushered Draco and James outside. James pulled him over to a group of chairs, pushing him down onto one of them and sitting down on the one next to it.  
Dracos head was swimming.  
“Draco, breath.”  
He felt himself shaking violently. He realized he was cold with nothing but his pyjamas on.  
James got up.  
“Where are you going?” Draco asked. His voice seemed very distant from himself.  
“Getting some tea.”  
“Stay. Please.”  
James sat back down.  
Draco put his face in his hands. Trying not to think. Trying so hard not to think. Not to think about all the things he should have said to Scorpius. Don't think that. All the things he hadn't told him. Don't think that. About how proud he was of him. Don't you dare think that.  
He didn't know how much time passed before -  
“Mr Malfoy?”  
He sprang up, facing two solemn-looking wizards.  
“Yes?”  
“Please hand over your wand.”  
He did so without thinking. As soon as the wizard took it he waved his own and Draco's hands were bound behind his back.  
“Draco Malfoy, you are under arrest for suspected child abuse.”  
“What?” He heard James ask.  
Draco wasn't surprised any more. It seemed like the next logical step in this nightmare.  
“Why?”  
“Who are you?” One of the wizards asked rudely.  
James drew himself up to his full height. “My name is James Potter. And if you're from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement my father is your boss. So you'd better have a very good reason for doing this.”  
“We were informed that Scorpius Malfoy was brought in a few minutes ago, highly intoxicated, off his medications for at least a week and looking as though he might have been raped.”  
“You think I would hurt my son?” Draco asked.  
“We can talk about this at the Ministry.”  
“No,” James said, “this is ridiculous. I'm getting my Dad.” And with a loud crack he Disapparated from Draco's side.  
He reappeared only a few seconds later, Harry by his side.  
“What's going on here?” Harry asked confused.  
“They arrested Draco for suspected child abuse,” James informed him.  
“What? That's stupid, don't do that. Why would you do that?”  
The Ministry wizards looked uneasy.  
“Sir, Mr Malfoy's son was brought in showing signs of severe abuse.”  
“It's the Curse,” Draco mumbled, “it makes little injuries much worse.”  
“There you go,” Harry said. “Scorpius Malfoy's illness is what's hurting him, certainly not his father. No unbind him, give him back his wand and get the Healers to talk to him about what's going on with Scorpius.”  
They obliged hesitantly.  
“Idiots,” Harry grumbled when they'd left. “Sorry about that. They're sometimes a bit over-enthusiastic.”  
Especially when an ex-Death Eater is the suspect, Draco thought, but he didn't even have the energy left to say it out loud.  
Harry left to get a Healer and returned within a minute.  
“Mr Malfoy,” said the Healer, “your son is out of danger. But as the Curse was allowed to take over for some minutes we don't know if there will be any lasting damages. Did you know that Scorpius stopped taking his potions?”  
Draco shook his head. “I only realized when I found him and looked for them in his trunk and saw he didn't have them with him.”


	7. Breaking Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius sleeps through his birthday. Draco blames Albus. James acts very grown-up.

Albus was sleeping when James got home, curled up in their mother's arms on the couch. Harry had already gone home an hour earlier to tell everyone that Scorpius was out of danger.  
“Did you find out what happened?” James asked Teddy, sitting down on the rug in front of the fireplace next to him.  
“Apparently they snuck out after we'd gone to bed, went to a Muggle pub, had a few drinks and when they came back, they were a little over-enthusiastic in bed.”  
“That's a nice euphemism for nearly fucking someone to death,” James muttered darkly.  
“James!” Ginny hissed from the couch reprovingly.  
“I'm still a bit puzzled though, how that can cause this much damage,” Teddy said.  
“They found out at St. Mungo's that Scorpius stopped taking his potions a week ago,” James said. “That's probably why.”  
“Why would he do that?” Teddy asked.  
“No idea. But I think we should get to bed. There's nothing we can do anyway.”  
Teddy and Harry agreed. Ginny said she'd stay downstairs with Albus, because she didn't want to wake him up.

James woke up a few hours later, when Flora was apparently informing her parents that she was hungry. He looked at the clock. It was half past six. He got up, dressed went downstairs and ate a hurried breakfast in the otherwise empty kitchen. Albus and Ginny were still sleeping on the couch.  
When he'd finished eating he Flooed to St. Mungo's.  
Draco was sitting in a chair next to Scorpius's bed watching his son sleep. He looked up when James entered with two mugs in his hand. He handed Draco one.  
“Has he woken up yet?” James asked.  
Draco shook his head.  
“Let me take over for a bit. You can go home, get some sleep, take a shower, eat something, you know. I'll get you if anything changes.”  
Draco shook his head again, his eyes back on Scorpius's pale face.  
“It wasn't a question,” James said, sitting down on Scopius's other side.  
Draco looked up. “You sound like your mother.” His voice was thick with tiredness.  
“You remember what you said to me about how a child can't feel safe with you if you're in distress?”  
“OK, OK, I'm going.” Draco got up, swaying slightly.  
James watched him leave the room, the mug of tea still in his hands. He looked down at Scorpius, who was sleeping peacefully.  
“Why did you do that, Scorpius?” He asked. But he had a feeling he might know the answer.

His father came around half past ten.  
“I can take over,” he said.  
“How's everything at home?” James asked.  
“Albus is a mess and Draco is asleep,” Harry sighed, slumping into the chair opposite James. “Go home. You didn't sleep much yourself. I'll stay here.”  
“OK. Thanks.”  
When he stumbled out of the fireplace at home, he found his mother and Albus still sitting on the couch. Albus's face was buried in Ginny's jumper. Teddy was dozing in an armchair, Flora sleeping in his arms.  
“Breakfast is in the kitchen,” Ginny told James. Albus looked up.  
“How's Scorpius?” He asked, looking at James through puffy eyes.  
“Sleeping,” James answered. He went into the kitchen for a second breakfast. A cake was standing next to the oven, the icing reading: Happy Birthday, Scorpius!  
The sight of it made his appetite disappear. He went back to the living room. Lily had just come downstairs, her hair was wet. She sat down on Albus's other side, gently rubbing his back.  
“Lily, is the bathroom free now?” James asked.  
“No, Vicky's in there.”  
James sighed, but he still went upstairs. He went into his room and lay down on his bed as silently as he could.  
“How's Scorpius?” He heard Draco's voice ask.  
“Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.”  
“You didn't. How's Scorpius?”  
“The same. Dad's with him now. Do you want breakfast?”  
“Yeah.” Draco sat up.  
“I can bring it up if you like,” James offered.  
“No, I'll come downstairs.”  
Draco got up and made to leave the room.  
“Bathroom is occupied,” James said. “But I can leave if you want to get dressed.”  
“It doesn't matter,” Draco said, pulling his pyjama shirt over his head.  
James saw the black skull tattooed across his forearm. When Draco had finished dressing, he picked up a comb from the table.  
“Can I use that?” He asked.  
“No!” James yelped, taking the comb from Draco. “It turns your hair pink. Use this.” He gave him another one.  
When Draco's hair was untangled, still white-blond and put in its usual neat ponytail they went downstairs. Everyone looked up when they entered.  
“Draco,” Ginny said cautiously, “how are you?”  
Draco ignored her, looking at Albus in disbelief. Albus seemed to shrink under his gaze.  
“I want to ask what you were thinking, but I guess the question is were you thinking at all?” Draco asked, disappointment audible in every syllable.  
“I'm sorry,” Albus whispered.  
“You should be. Scorpius could have died yesterday.”  
Albus gasped as though Draco had physically struck him. “I'm sorry,” he mumbled, “I didn't know.”  
“You knew, Albus. You knew he wasn't allowed to drink and that you had to be cautious of hurting him!”  
Albus shook his head. “I didn't know,” he sobbed, “he never told me.”  
“What?” James asked. “Scorpius didn't tell you?”  
Albus shook his head. “I asked him and he said it wasn't a problem.” He broke down into Lily's arms. She held him tightly. Ginny was watching Draco with a strained expression.  
“Please, can I visit him?” Albus asked pleadingly.  
“No,” Draco said, “you think I'm going to let you near him again after what happened last night?”  
“That's enough!” Ginny jumped up as a wave of sobs crashed down over Albus.  
She came threateningly close to Draco's face and said in a voice so low that only Draco and James could hear it over Albus's crying “I know your kid's in hospital, but I swear you say one more word to Albus and you get a hex to your face.”  
James and Draco left for the kitchen. Draco slumped down in a chair.  
“Why would Scorpius do that?” he asked James. James poured them both coffee.  
“Maybe he was just fed up with the things he couldn't do any more. Maybe he thought he could do without the potions because he'd been doing so well the past weeks.”  
“But why would he keep it a secret from us? Why didn't he tell me about that?”  
“I -” James put a cup of coffee in front of Draco, “he might have felt, that he couldn't be honest with you about how he felt. Because it would hurt you too much.”  
“What?” Draco looked up. “How do you -?”  
“He told me, during his week in the hospital wing. I didn't know it was this bad though. I didn't know he'd do something like this.”

Draco spent the rest of the day at St. Mungo's, while Harry returned back home.  
After lunch Albus shut himself into his room, refusing to speak to anyone. Harry was called into work and everyone else busied themselves with writing articles (Ginny) or reports (Teddy) or doing homework (James and Lily). Vicky took Flora out for a walk.  
It was shortly after six when James heard Draco enter his bedroom. He turned around.  
“Everything OK?” He asked.  
Draco didn't answer. “Can you go to St. Mungo's?” He asked instead.  
“Yeah, of course, why?”  
“I can't be there right now. Can you just take over?” Draco sat down onto his bed, looking shaken.  
“Did something happen?” James asked.  
“Just go, please,” Draco whispered.  
James took a few of his school books with him and went to Floo to St. Mungo's.  
Scorpius wasn't peacefully unconscious any more as he had been that morning. He kept jerking around in his bed, sometimes mumbling words that were barely distinguishable. His eyes kept flickering open for a few seconds, but he didn't seem to realize where he was or what was going on. He seemed frightened when James sat down beside him, his breaths coming fast and uneven. A Healer was with him trying to calm him down.  
“He started panicking when his father left,” she informed James.  
“Do you know why he left? He wouldn't say.”  
“I don't think Scorpius knows what he's saying,” the Healer said in a low voice over Scorpius's continuing mumbles. “But he said something that upset Mr Malfoy.”  
“Like what?” James asked.  
“Something like 'you should've let me die.'”  
James groaned. He realized that Scorpius's hands were groping around, apparently searching for something. He took the right one in his own.  
“Albus?” Scorpius asked.”Albus?”  
James felt the grip of Scorpius's hand tighten uncomfortably around his own.  
“Albus? Albus?”  
James looked at the Healer for help.  
“I need to get to my other patients. Send a message if something changes, OK?”  
James nodded, uncertain.  
“Albus?”  
“Yes,” James said, cupping Scorpius's cheek with his free hand, “I'm here.”  
Scorpius relaxed immediately. “You're here,” he mumbled, “you're here. I'm – I – you – I -”  
“Sshh,” James said, “I know. It's OK. I'm here now.”  
“I'm sorry.”  
“I know.”  
Scorpius fell asleep shortly after that, refusing to let go of James's hand.

Teddy came by about an hour later.  
“Harry asked me to bring you this,” he said, putting a box, presumably containing dinner, onto Scorpius's bedside table.  
“Thanks,” James said.  
“Are you planning on spending the night?” Teddy asked, sitting down on Scorpius's other side.  
James shrugged. “Yeah, if Draco doesn't show up.”  
“If you want, one of us can take over,” Teddy offered.  
“No, it's OK.” He paused. “He thinks I'm Albus.”  
“That explains the hand-holding,” Teddy said dryly.  
James snorted. “Has Albus come out of his room yet?” he asked.  
“No, he doesn't even let Lily enter.”  
“That's not good.”  
“No,” Teddy agreed. “Look, I need to get back. Send a Patronus if you want someone to take over for you, OK?”  
“Yeah, I will.”

Scorpius seemed to drift in and out of sleep, never really waking up though. He kept thrashing around in his bed, mumbling unconnected sentences, asking for Albus or his father and sometimes for his mother. James dozed off during the times Scorpius quieted down, his back and neck starting to hurt from sitting in the uncomfortable chair for too long.  
He realized it was different immediately when Scorpius opened his eyes in the middle of the night. For one, Scorpius was lying perfectly still in his bed, while his eyes stayed open and started looking around the room.  
“Scorpius?” James asked. Scorpius looked at him. He blinked a few times and frowned a bit as though trying to get James's face into focus. He cleared his throat.  
“James?” He whispered.  
James let out a relieved sigh. “Yes,” he said, smiling.  
“I'm thirsty.”  
“OK, I'll get you something.”  
He sent a Messenger Spell to the Healer on night-duty, who poked his head in a few moments later.  
“Yes?” he asked.  
“He's awake,” James said. The Healer came inside and sat down next to Scorpius's bed.  
“Hello, Scorpius,” he said, “can you tell me where you are?”  
Scorpius looked at the Healer and something like fright seem to flicker across his face. He looked back at James.  
“I'm thirsty,” he repeated.  
The Healer conjured a beaker filled with water and handed it to James. James put a hand under Scorpius's head and helped him lift it slightly, while putting the beaker to his lips. Scorpius took a few careful sips and then turned his head to the side. James put the beaker aside and lowered Scorpius's head back down. The Healer waved his wand again and a bowl of soup with a spoon appeared.  
“In case he gets hungry,” he said. “Call me if anything changes.” He left the room again.  
Scorpius drifted back to sleep.

James woke up with his head lying on Scorpius's mattress next to Scorpius's elbow. His neck felt stiff. He sat up. Scorpius opened his eyes.  
“Hey,” James said in a hoarse voice. “You hungry?”  
Scorpius nodded. James cast a Heating Charm at the bowl of soup.  
“Can you sit up?” He asked Scorpius. Scorpius shook his head.  
James pointed his wand towards the mattress, which began to rise at the top, so that Scorpius was put effortlessly into a more upright position. James took the bowl in his hands and filled the first spoon. Scorpius opened his mouth. He put the spoon into Scorpius's mouth and watched him, close his lips around it and swallow.  
Scorpius closed his eyes after a few spoon-full, simply listening to the clinking noises that filled the otherwise silent room every time James filled the spoon and opening his mouth accordingly. James felt that it was quite an intimate thing to feed another person like this.  
Scorpius ate half of the soup. James put the bowl aside, when he was done.  
Scorpius opened his eyes again. “Where's my dad?” he asked.  
“At home, do you want me to get him?”  
Scorpius nodded.  
“OK, I'll be right back.”  
He left for the Floo

He was woken by a knock on the door. When he opened his eyes, Albus was standing in the sunlit room.  
“Hey, Al,” James murmured sleepily. “What's up?”  
“Can you go to St. Mungo's with me?” Albus asked.  
“Can I wake up first?”  
James blinked against the brightness. He looked at his watch. It was almost noon. He groaned and sat up.  
“Brief me, what's happening?”  
“Draco's at St. Mungo's, Dad brought him breakfast this morning and told us Scorpius was awake when he came back. Dad and Teddy are at work now, Mum's editing in the living room, Vicky went to visit her parents and Lily is in Diagon Alley getting the Christmas pictures developed. I want to visit Scorpius in St Mungo's because I need to talk to him and Mum says I can't go alone, because I think she's afraid Draco might hex me, which leaves me to ask you if you would please come with me.”  
“Yes, I will. But only if I get breakfast first.”

Albus watched him nervously as he ate his eggs.  
“You OK?” James asked.  
Albus gave non-committing shrug. “Was he awake when you were there, too?” he asked.  
“Yeah, he was just waking up.”  
“Is he, I mean, how is he?”  
“Well, he was still pretty weak when I left, but he was asking for you and Draco and he said – he said he was sorry.”  
James saw his brother's expression harden for a moment. Albus kept bouncing his legs while James ate and fidgeting with his sleeves, which made James nervous, so he hurried up finishing his breakfast and then they Flooed to the hospital.  
“Stay here,” James said when they arrived in front of Scorpius's room. He knocked and entered alone.  
Scorpius was propped up against several pillows, Draco was sitting next to him, apparently reading to him. They both looked up when James came in.  
“Hello, James,” Draco said.  
“Hey, how's it going in here?” James asked.  
“Well enough,” Draco answered.  
“Albus is outside, he'd like to come in.”  
Draco looked uncertain. “Do you want Albus to come in, Scorpius?” He asked.  
Scorpius nodded, looking almost scared.  
“OK, then,” Draco said.  
“I think he might want to talk to Scorpius alone.”  
“I'm not sure -”  
“What do you think could happen?” James asked.  
“I don't know. I just don't feel comfortable with it,” Draco admitted. “Could you stay with them at least?”  
“I'll ask Albus.” James opened the door. Draco walked over to him and they both stepped outside to where Albus was waiting. “Is it OK if I come in with you?” James asked. Albus nodded.  
They entered the room together. James kept standing by the door, while Albus approached Scorpius's bed cautiously.  
“Hello,” Scorpius said in a very small voice.  
“Hi.” Albus didn't sit down. He stayed standing next to Scorpius's bed. “Do you know what happened?” he asked.  
Scorpius nodded. “My dad told me. Albus, I -”  
“No,” Albus interrupted him, “can I speak first, please?”  
Scorpius nodded.  
Albus drew a deep breath before he started. “You lied to me, Scorpius. You lied to me about the drinking, you didn't tell me you'd stopped taking your potions, you didn't tell me that this could happen. You made me almost kill you. I don't know if it's because you don't trust me, but you certainly made sure that I will never be able to trust you again.”  
“Albus,” Scorpius whispered.  
“No, let me finish,” Albus's voice sounded higher now. “I value your life higher than anything else in the world, higher than my own. But if you care about it so little, we can't be together.”  
Scorpius froze. Albus turned around and left the room. As the door fell shut, Scorpius tried to scramble out of bed to follow him. James just caught him in time before he fell to the floor. He hoisted Scorpius back onto the mattress.  
“No, Albus,” he heard Scorpius whisper, “Albus, please, come back.” James held Scorpius's weak body in his arms as he continued to whisper for Albus to come back.  
Draco came back in. He helped James put Scorpius back into the bed properly, while Scorpius's eyes darted around the room and his breathing fastened.  
“Scorpius, look at me,” Draco said calmly. “Scorpius!” Scorpius's horrified eyes met his father's. “Good,” Draco said. “I'm here, OK? I'm here.”  
James slowly retreated from the room.  
Outside Albus was sitting on the floor leaning against the hallway wall, his head resting on his knees. He was crying. James sat down beside him and put an arm around Albus's shoulder.

When they returned home Lily had just arrived from Diagon Alley and immediately took over comforting Albus together with their mother. James decided to go back to the hospital.  
Scorpius was asleep when he entered the room.  
“They gave him something to calm him down,” Draco said, barely concealing his anger. “Can you take over for a bit?”  
“Sure.”  
Draco left and James was left watching Scorpius sleep again until his father came in about half an hour later.  
“What are you doing here?” James asked.  
“I just wanted to see if everything was OK here,” Harry said, taking a seat.  
“Why aren't you at work?”  
“I wanted to go home for lunch and found absolute chaos there.”  
“Why?”  
“So, apparently it started with Albus breaking up with Scorpius,” Harry began.  
“That much I know about.”  
“Then Draco came home and was furious about it and the whole thing escalated until your mum threw Draco out of the house.”  
“Oh.”  
“Yeah. And as your mother and sister are much better at saying the right things to Albus when he's upset than I am and no one wanted to eat lunch any more, I thought I'd check in with you two, quickly before I return to work.”  
“I'm good. Scorpius is asleep, which is probably best for him right now, so -”  
“James, can I ask you something?”  
“What?”  
“Why do you do this? Why do you spend so much time here and take care of Scorpius? I mean, don't get me wrong, I think it's great of you to do it, I'm just wondering.”  
James bit his lip. “I don't know, it's kind of a stupid reason, maybe.”  
“Why?” his father asked.  
“Because I got drunk on my sixteenth birthday.”  
“What?” Harry asked in surprise.  
“Some friends and I snuck into the kitchens under the Invisibility Cloak and stole a bottle of Fire-Whiskey. We drank it during lunch break and went to Herbology after that. I threw up on Neville's plant, he was so angry. But all I got was a little humiliation and detention for a week. Scorpius does basically the same and nearly dies, ruins his relationship and hurts everyone who cares about him. I don't think that's fair.”  
Harry thought about that for a few moments, then he said “How come Neville never told me about that?”  
“He said it was his birthday gift to me not telling you and Mum.”


	8. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius recovers slowly. Draco lets down his guard. Ginny makes something clear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I know the paragraphs look different, don't know how that happened, but hopefully none of them are doubled this time.

Scorpius asked him if he could be transferred to the Hogwarts hospital wing once the term started again.

“Scorpius, you're not going back to Hogwarts,” Draco answered.

“What? Why not?”

“When they release you from here I'm taking you home.”

“For how long?”  
“Until I can trust you again,” Draco answered simply.

Scorpius looked at him with huge eyes, that told him how very sorry he was for what Draco had been put through. But Scorpius feeling sorry didn't stop Draco from waking up drenched in sweat every night, because he'd been haunted by images of his son bleeding to death in his dreams.

Scorpius had lost weight since his birthday, his cheekbones were more prominent than they should have been. The unusual thin face made his sad eyes appear even larger.

Draco knew that Scorpius was the one who bore most of the consequences of his own actions, but it didn't stop Draco from being angry at him. He tried not to show it too much.

A day after New Year the Healers had established the damage the Curse had done to Scorpius's body. He'd lost the use of his left arm and his eyesight had suffered, requiring him to wear glasses from now on. Everything else, the Healers said, would go back to the way it had been before.

Except for the fact that Scorpius had stopped smiling. And that he couldn't read his favourite book any more, because the names Albus, Severus and Potter appeared in it too often.

James still looked in almost every day, sometimes accompanied by Lily. Harry had stopped coming after realizing that he reminded Scorpius too much of Albus.

 

Scorpius came home about a week after term started again. They travelled by Floo. Scorpius went first. When Draco arrived at the Manor, Scorpius had sunk weakly into the nearest armchair.

“I think I'll have to get used to that again,” he said, indicating the fireplace.

“You will,” Draco assured him. “I'll get your stuff upstairs.”

When he got back, Scorpius hadn't moved, but the elf seemed to have been in, because there was a glass of pumpkin juice on the table.

“So, what happens now?” Scorpius asked, when Draco sat down in the armchair facing him.

“First you have to get better, and then I'll start to teach you.”

“What are you going to teach me?”

“Everything you'd learn at school. I'm a bit rusty with some subjects, but I'm sure we'll figure it out.”

“OK.”

“But for now you just rest.”

Scorpius nodded.

“Dad?” he asked after a few moments of silence. “You won't let me go back to Hogwarts, will you?”

“I don't know yet, Scorpius. It's not a punishment, you know.”

“I know. Maybe it's better this way.”

 

Ginny visited a few days after Scorpius had come home.

“How is he?” she asked as they sat down for tea in the sitting room.

“Asleep most of the time,” Draco answered. “Why are you here?” He realized too late that the question sounded kind of rude.

“I thought you might be in need of a friend with everything that happened.”

“Are we?” Draco asked. “Friends?”

“I like to think we are. I know you're angry with Albus and I understand why. But I think you also understand why I support his decision. And I think we are two grown-up people who can accept that they have different opinions on something.”

“Yes,” Draco agreed, “I'd like that.”

She gave him a smile, he tried to return it, but failed.

“How are you?” Ginny asked concerned.

“I'm glad he's back home,” Draco said, taking a sip of tea to have something to do. “But he's just so unhappy all the time.”

“Yes,” she said and he knew she was thinking of Albus, “but I'm sure it'll get better.”

“I'm not,” Draco said.

“Why?”

“Because I know what it's like to screw up and not be able to take it back.”

“Everyone has regrets, Draco. We learn to live with them. You have.”

Draco didn't know what to reply.

“Is there anything we can do for you?” Ginny asked.

Please tell your son to take Scorpius back.

“Did you take Ancient Runes or Muggle Studies at Hogwarts?”

“Muggle Studies yes, Ancient Runes no. I had Care of Magical Creatures instead. Why?”

“Because I didn't take them either. Do you think you might be able to help Scorpius a bit with Muggle Studies?”

“Sure. And I'm pretty sure Scorpius can learn what he needs for his Ancient Runes O.W.L. from books.”

“Probably.”

“Dad?”

They hadn't heard Scorpius come downstairs. He was standing in the doorway. The shock of seeing him look so pale and thin was visible on Ginny's face for a second, but she readjusted her expression quickly.

“Hello Scorpius,” she said warmly. “Come here.”

He slowly trotted up to her and sat down on the sofa next to her. She put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him to her side. He gave in to the half-hug, letting his head rest on her shoulder. Draco felt a stabbing pain of jealousy in his chest. He would've liked to be able to comfort his son like this.

“How are things?”He heard Ginny ask Scorpius quietly.

“OK.”

“I like your new glasses.”

Scorpius didn't reply.

 

Scorpius's health improved slowly. He got better at walking without getting tired too quickly, he read a lot again, being able to concentrate for longer periods of time and he got used to doing everything with one hand. Draco bought him an enchanted knife, that cut meals on its own. But he still slept up to eighteen hours a day and he still looked desperately unhappy. Draco could tell that, apart from Albus, Scorpius also missed Hogwarts, missed seeing other people than just his father and once a week Ginny, missed being taught by more capable teachers than Draco and missed doing magic. And he knew that this wasn't helping the recovery.

“I'll have to let him go back to Hogwarts,” he told Ginny one day. She'd come by to show Scorpius something called a vacuum cleaner, apparently some sort of Muggle Scourgefy replacement, but Scorpius was sleeping again.

She looked up at him in surprise. “Really?” she asked.

“Yes, I think it's better for him.”

“Wow, I don't think I could do that if it was me.”

“You think it's wrong?”

“No, on the contrary, I think it's the right thing to do. It's also quite brave.”

He gave her a small smile. “I have my moments.”

Later he didn't know what made him do it. Maybe it was because she'd called him brave and he'd been thinking about doing it for months now, even though he didn't like to admit it even to himself. The most likely reason, he later thought, was that he was an idiot.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her. And she let him. And it felt so good. He had missed it so much, kissing, touching another person's skin, breathing in the scent of someone else's body.

When he stopped, she took a step back, her face completely blank.

“I'm sorry,” she said after a long silence.

“Don't apologize.”

“Yes. This is wrong and you know it.”

“But I'm in -”

“No,” she interrupted him sharply, “don't use that word lightly. It belongs to Astoria and it's not true.”

“How do you want to know that?” he asked angrily. “And why didn't you stop me, if -”  
“Because.” she said calmly “I have a crush on you. It happens, it's not a big deal. But I love my husband. Always have and always will.”

Draco closed his eyes, clenching his teeth.

“And I don't think you're in love with me either, Draco.” He heard her say in a more gentle tone. “I think you've been very lonely since Astoria died and you're scared out of your mind of losing Scorpius. And I understand that. But this is not the way to deal with it.”

He opened his eyes and saw that she'd sat down on the edge of the nearest sofa. He was still standing, gripping the back of an armchair for support.

“But there is something,” he whispered.

“Yes, it's called friendship and I value it highly.”

It felt as though she'd slapped him in the face.

“Are you going to tell your husband about it?” He asked numbly.

“Yes.”

“What? Why?”

“Because our marriage is based on honesty.”

He looked at her incredulously. “You're joking, right? He'll kill me.”

“No he won't. It's not the worst thing anyone's ever done to him.”

“I'd kill me.”

“And you're wondering why I'll always choose him.”

 

“Put on your winter cloak, we're going outside.”

“Why?” Scorpius asked.

“You'll see.”

“Where are we going?”

“The garden.”

Scorpius went upstairs and came back a minute later in his thick cloak, wearing a woollen hat and scarf. They went outside. It had stopped snowing the day before, but the world was still very white.

Draco pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, extracted one from it and held it out to Scorpius.

“What's this about?” Scorpius asked.

“I figured no-smoking was one of the few rules I set you that you haven't broken yet and I thought I'd let you do it in a risk-free way.”

“Is this some sort of test?” Scorpius asked suspiciously, “I learned my lesson, Dad.”

“I know you have. I mean it. I want you to have a smoke with me.”

“OK.” Scorpius took the cigarette hesitantly. Draco lit it for him with his wand.

Scorpius eyed it warily. Draco took one for himself and put the pack back in his pocket. He lit his own, put it between his lips and inhaled deeply.

Scorpius mimicked him and started to cough violently. “That's disgusting,” Draco heard him say as he himself exhaled slowly, deliberately.

“God, I've missed that,” he groaned.

“You used to smoke?” Scorpius asked.

“Yes, I quit when your mum got pregnant.”

“Did she smoke too?”

Draco laughed. “By her own definition, no.”

“What do you mean?”  
“She never once lit a cigarette for herself, but she always made me share mine.”

Scorpius gave his a second try, but he had to cough again and pulled a grimace. He flicked it into the snow.

“I don't think I have a problem with the no-smoking rule.”

“Good,” Draco said. “I wanted that out of the way before I let you go back to school.”

Scorpius gaped. “What? You – you're letting me go back to Hogwarts?”

“Yes,” Draco said, glad to see the shadow of a smile on his son's face for the first time in weeks. “As soon as you're well enough.”

“I am,” Scorpius said quickly. “I'm well enough.”

“Scorpius, you're still sleeping through most of the day. You can't go to school like that.”

Scorpius's face fell again. “Maybe it'll get better once I'm there.”

“No, I can't let you go like this.”

Scorpius lowered his head, looking at his shoes. They stood in silence for a while. When Draco had finished his cigarette he realized that tears were running down Scorpius's face.

“What's the matter?” he asked.

Scorpius shook his head. “Nothing,” he said in a choked voice.

“Well, something clearly is.”

“I can't tell you.”

“Why not?” Draco asked troubled.

“Because,” Scorpius gulped for air, “you'd get angry again.”

“No, I won't,” Draco said.

Scorpius looked up.

“I promise.”

Scorpius took a few breaths before he started to talk.

“Mrs Longbottom said she spoke to the Healers at St. Mungo's about how they treated Mum when the Curse first showed up in her. She said back then the standard of care was not to give sleeping potions in combination with the other potions Mum had to take, because it would make the patients lose their ability to fall asleep on their own. But since then the Healers decided that that's a small price to pay compared to the benefits of the body getting enough sleep in the beginning of the treatment. I didn't realize no one had told you about it until I got home and you didn't ask me why I slept so much. You know everything about the treatment from when Mum was ill, I guess they forgot that this was something you didn't know.”

“You're saying you can't fall asleep unless you take something?” Draco asked.

Scorpius nodded.

“So, the reason you've been sleeping so much is because you've been overdosing?”

Scorpius nodded again, burying his face in his hands.

This, Draco thought, is when parents are supposed to hug their children. He didn't know a lot about it, but he knew that much. He took a step towards Scorpius and pulled him close. Scorpius seemed surprised, but gave in to the embrace quite quickly, letting his head rest against Draco's shoulder.

“I'm not angry, Scorpius,” Draco said quietly. “I'm not angry at all. We'll handle it together, I promise.”

“I just don't like being awake without him,” Scorpius whispered.

“I know.”

 

Draco confiscated Scorpius's sleeping potions and locked them away in his study, giving out one dose of it every night. It went better than he'd thought, although Scorpius was very moody for the first few days.

“Here,” Scorpius threw the Daily Prophet on the table in front of Draco, it was folded open to page five. Draco read the headline 'Are the Potters Breaking Up?'

His stomach clenched.

“Did you have anything to do with that?” Scorpius asked angrily.

Draco's mouth went dry.

“What do you mean?”

“The article says that Harry's been on sick leave from the Ministry for almost two weeks and is rumoured to have moved in with the Granger-Weasleys.”

“So?”

“So, I've seen the way you look at Ginny and she hasn't come to visit us any more for the last two weeks.”

Draco didn't know what to say, but Scorpius seemed to guess what the silence meant.

“You did this?” he asked, sounding terribly wounded.

“I don't know. Maybe,” Draco admitted.

“Great. I guess you can always rely on the Malfoys to ruin the day and making everyone around them unhappy,” Scorpius spat.

“Scorpius,” Draco said quietly, “that's not true.”  
“Yes, it is. I mean look at us! Look where we come from. What good ever came from this family? At least it'll die with us.”

“Scorpius!” Draco got up and held Scorpius back by his wrist as his son made to turn around and leave the room. “That is not who you are. You are not a bad person. Maybe I am, but you're not. You made a mistake, but that doesn't mean you're not a good person. You're not like me at all, I promise. You might look like me, but I see your mum in everything you do and say. And I know if she was here she would be doing a much better job than I am and I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not the parent you deserve. I wish she was here instead of me, because she would know exactly what to say to you. But please believe me when I say that you are good. Please don't let this name define you.”

Scorpius yanked his arm from Draco's grip and left the room. And Draco cried.

 

They met in the Leaky Cauldron. Neutral ground, Draco thought. But Ginny acted perfectly normal, she even kissed his cheek when she greeted him like she always did. They ordered lunch.

Draco thought she looked tired, but maybe he was just projecting.

“So, Scorpius is back at Hogwarts?” Ginny asked.

Draco nodded.

“How's that working out?”  
“Good. He's sleeping in the hospital wing for now, so Hannah can make sure he takes his potions.”

“Well, that's a relief,” Ginny murmured.

“Yes. But McGonagall said Scorpius can eventually move into the fourth year dormitory if he doesn't want to go back to his own.”

“Might be a good option. Does he write anything to you about how it's going in classes? Because Albus stopped writing to us.”

“No,” Draco admitted, “Scorpius just writes the bare essentials. You know, 'I'm on my meds and doing fine'. No details.”

“James wrote that Rose says Potions with the two of them is awkward.”

“Not surprising,” Draco said, “but while we're on the matter of awkwardness: I read the article in the Prophet.”

Ginny groaned. “You and the rest of the world.”

“So is it true?”  
“Which part?”  
“The part about you and Harry splitting up.”

“No.”

“Him moving in with the Granger-Weasleys?”

“Partly.”

“And him not showing up for work for two weeks because he was sick?”

“Yes.”

“Care to elaborate?”

Ginny sighed. “Harry was sick and I had to go abroad for a Quidditch report, so he stayed at Ron and Hermione's for three days and they took care of him.”

“What was he sick with?” Draco asked.

“He was over-worked. He hasn't had a holiday in almost two years now and he's been working over-time ever since the Azkaban incident in July.”

“So you're husband fell ill a day after we kissed and I'm supposed to believe that's a coincident?”

“I'm not saying it was a coincident. And you don't get to ask that question.”

“Fine.”

“Is that why you asked me here? To make sure you didn't destroy my marriage?” Ginny asked.

“Yes,” Draco admitted.

“Well, you didn't.”

“So, he knows you're meeting me here?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”


	9. Silent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scorpius returns to Hogwarts. Albus upsets the Hufflepuffs. An article in the Daily Prophet makes James visit his father.

Unhappiness made Albus insufferable. James felt bad about the fact that he spent more time with Scorpius than with his own brother during the rest of the Christmas break, but at least Scorpius appreciated him. Even Lily gave up on trying to cheer Albus up, after Vicky and Teddy moved back to their own house. They didn't say that it was because of Albus. They didn't have to. Ginny was the only one who didn't avoid Albus by the start of the new year.  
Scorpius on the other hand always seemed to like seeing them. He wasn't exactly fun to be around either, but being able to make someone so desperately unhappy feel even a tiny bit better felt sort of nice.  
On the last day before term started again James visited on his own, because Lily was still busy packing. Draco left to get something to eat when James arrived.  
“Hey, Scorp, how are you today?” James asked.  
“OK,” Scorpius said, which was his standard reply. He was sitting in bed, looking as thin and pale as ever and wearing his new glasses. His left hand was resting curled up on his stomach. “Do you want to go to the tea room with me?” Scorpius asked. “I'm allowed to get up now.”  
“That's great, yeah, let's go.”  
Not sure how steady Scorpius would be standing up, James offered him his arm. Scorpius accepted it wordlessly. They made their way slowly down the ward. James thought they probably looked like an old couple.  
“Do you know when you'll be able to come to Hogwarts?” James asked, when they'd reached their destination and Scorpius slumped down into a chair.  
“Dad said he's taking me home when they release me here.”  
“Oh, did he say for how long?”  
“No, his expression said forever, though.”  
James began making tea. “You scared him, that's all. I'm sure he'll let you go once he recovers from this whole thing.”  
Scorpius shrank a little in his chair.  
“Hey,” James said, turning around to face him, “don't feel bad. It's done. Just focus on getting better.”  
“Can I ask you something?” Scorpius asked timidly.  
“You can ask me anything.”  
“Dad told me what happened that night. And I may be wrong, but I get the feeling I'm missing something. That maybe there's something he hasn't told me.”  
“Well,” James said putting a mug of tea in front of Scorpius and taking the seat opposite him, “I don't know what he told you.”  
“He told me about how you found me and that he couldn't help me because I'd left my potions at home and how you brought me here and that some Ministry wizards came and tried to arrest him because they thought he'd hurt me and that your dad stopped them. He told me that I slept through my birthday and that either he or you or Harry were always with me.”  
James nodded. “And what's the first thing you remember.”  
Scorpius frowned in concentration. “I think I remember you feeding me soup.”  
“Nothing before that?”  
“No. Why?”  
“You started talking in your sleep.”  
“What did I say?” Scorpius asked warily.  
“When I was there you were really scared and asking for Albus and your parents and saying you were sorry. But apparently when your Dad was with you, you said something like that you wished he'd have let you die.”  
Scorpius buried his face in his hand. “Oh Merlin.”  
“You don't remember at all?” James asked.  
Scorpius looked up. “No! I don't remember. I would never say something like that to my dad.”  
“But it must have come from somewhere.”  
“I'm such an idiot!” Scorpius let his head sink onto the table. “I kept thinking during that night, if something goes wrong at least this is a better way to go.”  
“A better way than the way your mum died?” James asked.  
Scorpius nodded. “I just hated the idea that Dad and – and Albus would watch me getting weaker and slowly fading away for years.”

“James, I need to talk to you,” Hugo said, taking the seat next to James.  
“What's up, Hugo?” James asked, looking up from his homework.  
“So, the Hufflepuff prefects told Freddie to tell me to tell you that you need to tell your brother he can't monopolize the Slytherin prefect's bathroom. And I'm telling you that you need to tell the Hufflepuff prefects not to talk to Freddie. They scared him.”  
James looked up. “Hugo, this is probably the weirdest thing I've heard this year.”  
Hugo's face fell. “Oh, James,” he said sympathetically, “I'm so sorry. I had no idea your life was this boring.”  
“Don't worry, it's only January, lots of time to top this.”  
“Yeah, also I keep forgetting that people who Freddie doesn't talk to don't get told as many weird things as I do.”  
“OK, back to the topic. What's the problem the Hufflepuff's are having with Albus?”  
“So apparently, Albus blocks the Slytherin boys' prefect bathroom every night, and the other two Slytherin prefects are accordingly not pleased with that, so they've asked the Hufflepuffs if they can share their bathroom until Albus comes around and -”  
“Hold on,” James interrupted Hugo's speech, “why did they ask the Hufflepuffs?”  
“Because the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain is a girl, which means the Hufflepuff boys' prefect bathroom is only used by three people and not by four like the Gryffindors' and the Ravenclaws' where the male captain also uses it. And also, I guess, because they're Hufflepuffs, you know. They're nice, they have a difficult time saying no.”  
“OK.”  
“So the Hufflepuffs thought there should be done something about it, but neither they nor the Slytherin prefect wanted to talk to Albus about it, because, you know, it's Albus in a bad mood, no one voluntarily talks to him.”  
“Hugo, don't be mean.”  
“I'm not mean, I'm telling the truth. Anyway, so they thought, as you're his big brother you probably have the best chance at getting through to him. But, as it's one week until the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch match they didn't want to approach you, because they were afraid you'd think they wanted to hex you. So, they went to the only Hufflepuff-Weasley, our dear Freddie and told him about it and he was terrified. You have to tell them they can't do that! Anyway, Freddie told me and I'm telling you: You need to tell Albus that other people want to use that bathroom, too and you need to tell the Hufflepuff prefects to leave Freddie alone.”  
“This is ridiculous. Why can't you talk to them?”  
“Er, James, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a second year! I'm sure as hell not going to tell some fifth, sixth and seventh years from another house what to do.”  
“But you said it yourself, they're Hufflepuffs, they're nice, that's like the definition of being a Hufflepuff. And you're a Gryffindor. Aren't you supposed to be brave?”  
“You're a Gryffindor too, why can't you do it?”  
“What if they think I want to hex them?”  
“Hm,” Hugo thought, “I could ask Louis.”  
“Good idea!”  
“But you have to talk to Al!”  
“Yes, I'll talk to Albus.”  
“Good.”

James thought the best way to get Albus on his own was to wait in front of the Slytherin prefect bathroom that night. He was right.  
“What are you doing here?” Albus asked when he saw James.  
“Waiting for you.”  
“Why?”  
“I need to talk to you.”  
“About what?”  
“About the fact that this is not your private bathroom.”  
“How is that any of your business?” Albus asked annoyed.  
“It is my business when your bathing habits cause Freddie to be upset.” He knew that would get Albus's interest and he was right.  
“What? How did I upset Freddie? I didn't talk to him. I wasn't even near him.”  
“No, you didn't talk to him, but the Hufflepuff prefects did, because they have to share their bathroom with your fellow Slytherin prefects now.”  
Comprehension dawned on Albus's face. “Oh.”  
“Come on, let's have a walk.”  
“No, thanks,” Albus said, turning towards the bathroom entrance.  
“Consider it more of an order than a suggestion,” James said, pulling Albus away from the door.  
“You can't order me around, James. I'm the prefect, remember?”  
“And I'm your big brother, remember that?”  
“How could I forget,” Albus growled under his breath.  
“Come on.”  
“No!”  
“Why not?” James asked exasperated.  
“Because I don't want to take a walk, I want to take a bath. It's cold.”  
“I'd like to have a chat with you.”  
“I don't. But you can join me if it's so bloody important to you.”  
“You're inviting me to join you in the bathroom?” James asked. “That sounds wildly inappropriate.”  
That almost made Albus smile. “It's a bloody swimming pool, James, and we're brothers. Don't be a prat.” He gave the password. The door opened and they stepped in.  
“What if Myrtle joins us?” James asked as the door closed behind him.  
“Don't worry, Myrtle doesn't come here any more,” Albus said.  
James looked around. The bathroom looked almost exactly like the one the Gryffindor prefects used. “Why not?” he asked surprised.  
“Well, she might have floated in on Scorpius and me once,” Albus admitted, blushing slightly.  
“So the trick is to traumatize her with sex?” James asked interested. “That's good to know. I'm definitely willing to do that if it means she'll stop spying on me.”  
“I don't know,” Albus said, starting to undress, “the fact that it was gay sex might have helped, you know she's from the 1930s, so – and I think she had a crush on me.”  
“Don't flatter yourself,” James said, “she has one on every second boy she meets.”  
Albus snorted. They clambered into the enormous bathtub and started filling it with water.  
“But now that I think about it, you two can't possibly have been the first gay couple to have sex in a prefect's bathroom in the last ninety years.”  
Albus shrugged. “Yeah, I guess that sounds unlikely. Maybe she just doesn't get used to it. I bet she'll come back here once I graduate.”  
“Hm,” James thought, “I guess it would be inappropriate to ask you to bang someone in the Gryffindor's prefect bathroom?”  
“Yes! And anyway, who?”  
“I don't know. Have you seen the way Creevey looks at you?”  
Albus snorted. “Creevey?” he asked in disbelief.  
“Yeah, why? What's wrong with him?”  
“He's a Gryffindor.”  
“So am I.”  
“You're proving my point.”  
“Thanks.”  
“Any time.”  
Silence fell. The tub was now full of water and bubbles. Albus closed his eyes, looking very relaxed. James was fiddling with his toes.  
“So, why do you come here every night?” he asked hesitantly after a few minutes.  
Albus opened his eyes looking vaguely annoyed. “For peace and quiet.”  
“OK. Isn't there a way to get those without upsetting so many people?”  
“Any suggestions?”  
“I don't know. Pull the curtains around your bed closed and cast a Silencing Charm.”  
“That's not as nice though.”  
“True. But as I said it's other people's bathroom, too.”  
“Why don't they just talk to me themselves if it bothers them?” Albus asked.  
“Um,” James stammered, “I, er, I think they might be a bit afraid of you.”  
“Of me?” Albus asked disbelievingly.  
“Yeah, you know, you can be a bit – intense, when you're in a mood.”  
“I'm not intense.”  
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

“Um, James?” Delia asked carefully, putting aside her newspaper. “Have you seen there's an article about your parents in there?”  
“No,” James said, not looking up from his breakfast. “But it's not unusual, my dad's mentioned almost daily in one way or another.”  
“I know,” Delia said, “but this way is a new one. They're saying your parents are separating.”  
“What?” This time James did look up. “That's ridiculous. Show me.”  
She gave him the newspaper. James read the headline 'Are the Potters Breaking Up?'  
“Damn!” he murmured.  
“You think it's true?” Delia asked.  
“Of course it's not true. But if Lily sees this -”  
He scanned the table for his little sister, but she wasn't there. He got up and went out of the Great Hall, Delia on his heels. Lily was standing in the Entrance Hall together with Hugo and Freddie. She had a copy of the Prophet pressed to her chest. He hurried over to them.  
“James!” Lily called. “Have you seen this?”  
“Yes, I have,” James said. “It's rubbish, Lily, you know that. The Prophet prints stupid stories all the time.”  
“Yeah, only this time it's true,” Lily said. She sounded close to tears.  
“What makes you say that?” James asked.  
“Because your dad did move in with my parents,” Hugo said.  
“What?” James asked confused.  
“The article said that your father has moved in with the Granger-Weasleys,” Delia explained quickly.  
“Yes, and Freddie told me that Roxy wrote him that she overheard my dad tell her dad that your dad was staying with them.”  
James wondered if it was Hugo who made the things Freddie said sound weird even when they weren't or if that was actually the way Freddie told his stories.  
“OK, look. I'm going to Floo home and ask Mum and Dad about it. But I'm sure there's a good reason for this. Don't worry, Lily.”  
Lily nodded, but she looked unconvinced.  
James went back into the Great Hall. He sought out Albus at the Slytherin table.  
“Have you seen the Prophet yet?” he asked.  
Albus shook his head. “Why?”  
“They're saying Mum and Dad are separating,” James said.  
“That's stupid.”  
“I know. I'm going to ask them about it now. Don't worry about it.”  
“OK,” Albus said, shrugging indifferently.  
“Do you know how heartless you sound sometimes?” James asked.  
“Whatever,” Albus said.  
James left him there and went up to the teacher's table where Neville and Hannah were having breakfast.  
“Mr Potter,” Neville said surprised when he saw him, “what can I do for you?”  
“Have you seen the article about my parents, Professor Longbottom?” James asked.  
“Yes, I have.”  
“Could I use your fireplace to Floo home and talk to them? Lily's quite upset.”  
“Of course.” Neville stood up immediately. “Come with me.”  
Neville and Hannah's living quarters were the only place at Hogwarts where Neville was the Potter kids' friend and Albus's godfather. Everywhere else he was their teacher and Neville was very good at keeping the two separate.  
James followed him through the castle, into the hospital wing, through Hannah's office until they arrived in the Longbottom's living room.  
“Give them my love,” Neville said, holding out the pot containing Floo powder to James. James nodded and took it.  
He stumbled out of the fireplace to find his dad sitting on the couch, reading a book.  
“Dad!” he called out, surprised, “Your here!”  
Harry looked up. “James, is everything all right? What's going on?”  
“Er, we saw the Prophet this morning,” James said.  
Harry sighed. “Sit down. Your mum's at the office. She's furious. No one told her they'd bring that article.”  
“So, it's all a lie?” James asked hopefully, sitting down on the rug.  
“No, not everything. Did Lily and Albus see it too?”  
“Yeah, Lily's upset, that's why I came and Albus is too involved with his own drama to care.”  
“I'm sorry. You shouldn't have seen that.” Harry ran a hand over his face. “Look, your Mum and I are not splitting up, I promise.”  
“Then what was the article about?”  
“I've been sick, James, and your mum had to go away for work for a few days so I spent some time at Ron and Hermione's, that's all.”  
“Why are you sick?” James asked.  
Harry looked uncomfortable. “Something happened.”  
“What happened, Dad? Please, tell me.”  
Harry sighed. “OK. So, I'm not sure you can understand this, but I'll try to explain. You know that I lost a lot of people who were close to me during the war.”  
James nodded, wondering where this was going.  
“Right, so when I married Ginny and we had you, for the first time I had a family again. And I couldn't bear the thought of losing any of you, literally. I'm not able to think about a life without you kids and without Ginny. But two weeks ago something happened that made me think about it, made me consider that possibility maybe for the first time and – it made me ill.”  
James swallowed. His father had never shown himself so vulnerable in front of him.  
“The fact that I'm completely over-worked might have contributed to it, though,” Harry added.  
“What happened?” James asked.  
“James.”  
“No! The whole school will be talking about it by tomorrow and I deserve to know the truth.”  
Harry let out a small groan. “Your mum - let someone kiss her.”  
“What? Who?”  
“I'm not telling you that.”  
“Why not?”  
“Because it's not important.”  
“Why would she do that?”  
“Look, James, your mum and I have been together for almost twenty-five years now, more than half our lives. And if you're with someone for such a long time it's quite easy to forget what you've got in that person. And you might even start to wonder if someone else couldn't give you more. It's not an unusual thing to happen. But it's the reason why a relationship should never be taken for granted. This is why people always say that marriage is hard work, because new things always look so much more tempting, that you have to be reminded what you have is too good to risk.”  
“Have you been talking to Aunt Hermione? 'Cause what you're saying sounds a lot like her.”  
“Yes, I have, actually.”  
“So Mum thinks she could do better than you?”  
“No, but I'm not perfect. And I haven't really been around much lately.”  
James opened his mouth to argue, but Harry interrupted him.  
“I'm not saying what she did was right or even OK. I'm saying we've both been taking our marriage for granted lately. But we're aware of it now and we're dealing with it.”  
“And the guy who kissed her?”  
Harry managed a small smirk. “I have enough self-esteem to tell the difference between people who are a threat to me and people who are not. Trust me, he isn't.”  
“But it did make you fall ill,” James murmured.  
“The thought of losing Ginny. Not to him. Just in general.”  
Harry looked at his son and saw him still looking uncertain.  
“Maybe it's what I needed,” he said, “you've seen last summer what it's like in the Ministry and I guess I should have realized that it can't go on like this forever. Not just because of your mum, mainly because of me. So, I'm going to make a few changes in the office to make life a little easier for myself.”  
“That's good.” James said managing a small smile.  
“Yes. Come on, James, you know Mum and me. Do you honestly think, we'd let something like this get between us?”  
“No,” James agreed.  
“Exactly. We've faced worse after all. Raising you guys without anybody getting hurt for one.”  
“What? We were lambs!” James protested.  
“Keep dreaming.”

Neville was waiting for him when he returned.  
“It's OK. They have some – issues, but they're not splitting up.”  
Neville nodded. A thought occurred to James.  
“You already knew, didn't you?” he asked.  
Neville cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I thought it was better if they told you themselves. Would you like some tea?”  
“Sure, why not.”  
He sat down in one of the armchairs in front of the cosy fire, while Neville made them tea.  
“Here,” Neville said, putting a cup onto the small table in front of James. “Your brother's been here a lot lately.”  
“Really? I didn't know that. But it's good, I guess.”  
“Yeah, he's not doing too well.”  
“I know. Scorpius isn't either.”  
“Are you still in contact with him?” Neville asked.  
“Yes. He wrote a few days ago, actually, to tell me he's coming back soon.”  
“Yes,” Neville said, “Draco's been in contact with Hannah about that.”  
“Right. I think it's good for Scorpius.”  
“Maybe it's good for both of them. They're obviously not done with each other and they can't avoid the problem forever.”

“Rose, can you stay a moment?” James asked after Quidditch practice was over.  
“Sure, what's up?” Rose asked, staying behind while the other team members left the changing room.  
“You have Potions tomorrow with the Slytherins, right?”  
“Yeah, why?”  
“You know, Scorpius arrived yesterday?”  
“Yes.”  
“He can't use his left arm any more, so he might have some difficulties in Potions, could you have an eye out for him?”  
“Yes, but when did you become his Mummy?” Rose asked smirking.  
“Thank you,” James said pointedly.  
“I bet it's going to be terribly awkward with the two of them together in class,” Rose groaned.  
“Have you heard anything about how it went today?” James asked.  
“No, I don't usually talk to Slytherins that much.”

“So, how was it?” James asked Rose at lunch the next day.  
She groaned. “Horrible.”  
“How?”  
“Albus and Scorpius spent most of their time trying not to look in the direction of the other one. Scorpius was completely lost with one hand and had to ask people for help all the time and you could see Albus's heart breaking every time Scorpius couldn't do something. Honestly, James, you need to talk to them. Everyone within a mile of them can tell they're pining for each other.”  
“Great. Why do I have to talk to them?”  
“Who else? Also, aren't you the oldest Weasley at Hogwarts this year and as such supposed to look out for the rest of us?”  
“Yes, I am,” James agreed, “as a matter of fact, your dad, Uncle Bill, Uncle Percy and Uncle George all gave me a speech on the importance of that title before term started, but I had no idea it was going to be such a stressful job. By the way, it's going to be yours next year.” He winked at her.  
“Great,” she groaned.

He and Albus were sitting in the empty stands around the Quidditch pitch, talking. James tried to gently steer the conversation towards the subject of Scorpius, but Albus blocked every attempt, so they mainly talked about classes and the ever-approaching exams. After a while James saw someone making their way across the Quidditch pitch, but he couldn't make out who it was from this distant. When the figure reached the stands however, he realized it was Scorpius. Albus had noticed him too. He rounded on James.  
“Did you ask him to come?”  
“No,” James said. Scorpius climbed up the stairs to the row where they were sitting. He looked very nervous, his eyes flickering between James and Albus.  
“Hello Scorpius,” James said gently, “what's up?”  
“Erm, Hugo sent me to get you,” Scorpius told James.  
“Why, what's up?”  
“Freddie's in the hospital wing again.”  
James got up immediately. “Why? What happened?”  
“No one knows.”  
Scorpius turned around to lead the way back to the school.  
“You coming?” James asked Albus.  
“Why?”  
“Because he's your cousin, Albus!”  
Albus grudgingly got up and followed them.  
When they arrived at the entrance to the hospital wing, they found Uncle Ron and Hugo standing next to the open doors in the corridor. Ron was comforting Hugo, who seemed to be crying.  
“What's going on?” James asked, coming to a stop.  
“He stopped talking,” Hugo sniffed.  
“What?” James asked confused.  
“Freddie stopped talking to me.”  
That was not good.  
“Why? What happened?”  
“He broke his arm again,” Ron explained. “No one knows how he did it. George is with him now. Angelina and Roxy are on their way.”  
“OK,” James said slowly, “what do you need me for?”  
“I need you as back-up for when Angelina arrives,” Ron said.  
“Why?”  
“Because, you know what George and Angelina are like. They think Freddie's behaviour is perfectly normal. That he's just shy, but there's nothing wrong with that.”  
“OK, and what is our opinion?” James asked.  
“If Freddie stops talking to Hugo, there's no one at Hogwarts he trusts any more and he continues to get mysteriously hurt. Don't you think that's incredibly dangerous?”  
“Yes, but what do you want to do about it?”  
“I want to take him home. He's not safe here any more.”  
“Don't you think that's a little drastic?” James asked.  
“No, I don't. I think it's long over-due.”  
“But it's his parents' decision, isn't it?” James asked.  
Ron looked at Hugo, Scorpius and Albus. “Why don't you three go inside?” he suggested. “We'll be in right away.”  
They did so, Albus still looking as though he didn't want to be here.  
“Look, James.” Ron said in a low voice once they'd gone inside. “You're old enough to hear this now, but don't talk about it to the little ones. Angelina's a good mother in general, but she has neither the temperament nor the patience to deal with a child like Freddie and George can't admit there's something wrong with Freddie or he'd have to admit there's something wrong with himself too.”  
James raised his eyebrows.  
“I love my brother,” Ron said a bit defensively, “but he's got some serious problems he's not dealing with. You know that.”  
“Yeah, I guess. But it's still their decision, isn't it?”  
“Yes, which is why I need you to help me to try and persuade them.”  
“Why would they listen to me?” James asked doubtfully.  
“I don't know. But it's better than nothing.”  
“Thanks.”  
“Yeah. By the way, how's the Albus-Scorpius-drama going?”  
“Horribly. I think I'm going to do something about it.”  
“Like what?”  
“Get them back together.”  
“How?”  
“I don't know. But if I get enough people involved I'm sure we can find a way.”

Ron and James were unsuccessful. Freddie stayed at Hogwarts. Ron asked James to make sure that Freddie was always accompanied by one of his cousins, but as he was the only Weasley in Hufflepuff, that was impossible. Hugo hardly left Freddie's side during the day, even though Freddie continued to be silent. But James and Louis also made a point of looking in on them a few times a day.  
Meanwhile James had written to Draco, because he was sure he'd be an ally in James's quest to get Albus and Scorpius back together, for everybody's sake. He had already recruited Lily and Rose, though he suspected Rose only made the effort out of sheer annoyance at having to endure Albus and Scorpius in Potions.  
All the while the match against Hufflepuff drew ever closer and James grew increasingly worried. The problem was that his chances at winning the Cup would largely be decided in the match a week later, Slytherin versus Ravenclaw. If Ravenclaw won, Gryffindor was back in the game. If they lost, well. James didn't like having to rely on Louis's team.  
Draco wrote back a few days before the second Hogsmeade weekend, offering to meet with Albus there.  
“Rose!” James called over when he'd read the letter to where his cousin was sitting a few places down the table.  
“What?”  
“Can you make sure Albus goes to Hogsmeade?”  
“How do I do that?” she asked.  
“I don't know. Use your brain. Be creative. Just make sure he goes. Draco wrote he'd meet him in the Three Broomsticks at noon.”  
“OK. I still don't see how Mr Malfoy's going to help, but if you say so.” Rose shrugged. “By the way, have you seen the Prophet today?”  
“No, why?” James asked warily.  
“Teddy's been promoted!”  
“You're kidding!”  
“No.” She handed him her newspaper.  
Teddy's face was grinning happily at him. 'Edward Lupin becomes new Director of Azkaban Prison,' James read.  
“Wow, that's so cool!”  
“I know.”

“James, I need to talk to you,” Albus said.  
“No,” James said firmly, “no way.”  
“But -”  
“No, Albus! I just spent the day comforting Hugo, because he's still upset about Freddie not talking to him, helping Lucy with her Charms homework, listening to Rose complaining about her O.W.L. anxiety, playing Chess with Scorpius in the hospital wing and talking Quidditch tactics with Lily, I'm done for the day.”  
“James, please,” Albus begged.  
“I have a life too, you know, Albus! And I'm going to spend the evening with my girl-friend and without my brother or sister or cousins!”  
He saw the surprised look on Albus's face.  
“Oh my God, you didn't even know I had a girl-friend, did you?”  
Albus's face went pink.  
“You're such a narcissistic idiot sometimes, you know that? You want to talk? Fine, this is me telling you: You love Scorpius. Scorpius loves you. Go back to him, accept his apology and spare us all the drama.”  
And with that he left.


	10. Mending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco is determined to make things right again for his son.

Draco didn't know what it was about Muggle bathrooms that made him picture Astoria so clearly. It was as though she really was standing next to him, giving him a slightly ironic smile.  
“Looks like someone's having a mid-life-crisis.”  
“Am not.”  
Astoria throwing back her head while letting out an amused laugh. “You're in your fourties, sleeping with a Muggle woman half your age. That's like the definition of it, Draco.”  
“What would you know about being in your forties, anyway?”  
He felt bad about it immediately, even though she only existed in his mind nowadays. She would have turned forty a few weeks ago.  
He left the bathroom and started to get dressed. The woman was watching him.  
“Why do you have that tattoo?” she asked. “Doesn't really seem like your style.”  
“It's from another life,” Draco answered shortly, trying not to look at it.  
“You don't like it any more?”  
“No.”  
“Why don't you have it removed?” she asked.  
“It's not that easy.”  
He left, Apparated back home, went into his bedroom, put his wedding ring back on. He lay on the bed, staring at the high ceiling.  
“You know I still love you, don't you?” he asked the empty house.  
But no one answered back.

He made an appointment in St. Mungo's and asked if there was a way to remove the Dark Mark. They refused to try, saying that it was not medically indicated. Draco went home, tears of fury in his eyes. Scorpius's word were still ringing in his ears. “What good ever came from this family?”  
And Draco had to prove it to him. He had to prove he was not a bad person and then maybe Scorpius would believe that he, Scorpius, wasn't bad either.  
Draco summoned the house elf and gave him a knife. He rolled up his sleeve.  
“Cut it off,” he said through gritted teeth.  
The elf stared at him with wide eyes.  
“Cut off the Mark,” Draco ordered him.  
“Sir, Puddy isn't wanting to hurt his Master,” the elf squeaked horrified.  
“Trust me, you're doing me a favour.”  
He wasn't sure he'd be able to finish it once the pain started and he had to make sure it came off completely.  
“Puddy, this is an order!”  
The elf's bottom lip trembled as he placed the blade against Draco's skin.  
It took a day to heal. By the end of it the Dark Mark was back.

Draco visited Scorpius on a Sunday. Scorpius was sitting in his bed in the hospital wing. His trunk was lying on the bed next to him.  
“Hello Scorpius,” Draco said, sitting down beside him. He didn't ask how he was, Scorpius would just say OK, regardless of how he actually was.  
“Hi Dad,” Scorpius greeted.  
“You look better.”  
“Thanks.”  
“How is it going in classes? Are you far behind?”  
“No,” Scorpius said, “I didn't miss that much. And James offered to help if I need it.”  
“That's very nice of him.”  
“Yeah, he's great. He looks in sometimes. Lily too. And I'm back on the Quidditch team. No, don't panic.” Scorpius almost laughed seeing Draco's face. “I'm not actually playing. I'm an advisor. I help them with the strategy and everything. You know, I watch the training sessions and tell them what they can do better and stuff like that. It's pretty cool. I think we actually have a chance at winning against Ravenclaw and then we might even get the Cup.”  
“That's great, Scorpius. I'm glad.”  
Scorpius nodded. “So, why are you here?” he asked.  
“Just wanted to check in. Make sure everything is good here. Are you handling everything with your hand?”  
“Yes, it's much easier now I can do magic again. Only Potions is a bit difficult, because I can't cut up anything and the knife you gave me is not precise enough for that. Rose helps out a lot, and the other Slytherins when I ask them, but it's not a great feeling.”  
“I'm sure,” Draco said thoughtfully, “I actually wanted to ask your opinion on something that has to do with that.”  
“OK,” Scorpius said, “what?”  
“I, erm, I want to get rid of the Dark Mark,” Draco explained.  
“Is that possible?” Scorpius asked.  
“I don't know. I've tried doing it with a knife. That didn't work, so I guess if anything I'll have to use magic. But, well, I don't know if that could damage the arm and the hand. And seeing as you know what it's like not to be able to use your left arm I wanted to ask you if you think that's a reasonable price to pay.”  
Scorpius thought for a moment. “I don't know, Dad,” he said after a while, “I don't know what it's like to live with the Dark Mark, so I can't tell you if it's worth it.”  
Draco nodded.  
“Why do you want to do it anyway?” Scorpius asked.  
“I don't know. I guess I want to change things. I don't want to be that person any more.”  
“But you're not,” Scorpius said. “You're not a Death Eater. You know that and I know that. What difference does it make whether you have the Mark or a scar?”  
“It's not just about not being a Death Eater, Scorpius. I don't want to be that person any more who screwed up and then went on with his life as if nothing had happened.”  
“But how is this going to make anything right?”  
“I don't know. But I feel like I have to do something.”  
“Is this because of our fight?” Scorpius asked tentatively.  
“Maybe.”  
“OK. Because there's something I've been meaning to tell you ever since.”  
“What?”  
“You said that you wished Mum was here instead of you.”  
Draco nodded.  
“And I don't know if you meant by that that you wished you'd have died instead of her. It sounded like it and if that's the case I just wanted to say that I don't.”  
“You don't?” Draco asked surprised.  
“No, did you think I did?”  
“Yes,” Draco admitted. “Because she'd be doing a so much better job right now.”  
“I'm not even sure that's true, Dad,” Scorpius said. “You have different qualities than she did. That's OK.”  
“So, you're saying there are things I do better than she would have done?”  
“I don't think Mum would have let me go back here,” Scorpius said.  
Draco thought about that. “No, probably not.”  
“So, now that we have established that I don't wish you dead, there's something else you should know as well.”  
“Yes?”  
“James told me what I said on my birthday in my sleep when you were there. And that's not true either. I don't wish I'd have died. And I'm really sorry I said it.”  
Draco's eyes began to burn. He blinked.  
“Dad?” Scorpius asked anxiously.  
“Thank you,” Draco said thickly. It was all he could manage.  
Scorpius looked tactfully away as Draco fought against the tears welling up in him as he thought about the day exactly sixteen years after Scorpius had come into the world, making Draco the happiest he'd ever been, when his son had muttered in his sleep that he wished he was dead.  
He dabbed his eyes with his sleeve and took a few steadying breaths before he spoke again.  
“OK, now my turn,” he said.  
Scorpius looked up. “What do you mean?”  
“Now it's my turn to apologize. I've been doing some thinking too.”  
“OK.”  
“You know I keep saying that I can't trust you because of what happened. But I think it's actually the other way around. I think it happened because I didn't trust you in the first place. I just told you what you weren't allowed to do any more, but I didn't explain, I didn't give you any options. I thought I knew all there was to know about this, but I didn't realize it is different when it's your kid. I'm sorry, Scorpius. I'll try to do it right from now on.”  
Scorpius actually smiled a little. “Thanks Dad. But don't beat yourself up too much about it. I'm old enough to take the main-credit for it.”  
“I know,” Draco said. He looked at his shoes a little sheepishly.  
“What?” Scorpius asked.  
“You know you can't deny your mum was definitely better at this whole talking thing,” Draco said.  
“Come on, it's not going that bad.”  
“True. So, can I ask?”  
“What?”  
“About Albus?”  
Scorpius's face hardened slightly.  
“How is it going with you two seeing each other every day?” Draco asked.  
Scorpius suddenly became very interested in his own fingers. “Not so great,” he mumbled.  
“I'm sorry.”  
“I want him back, Dad,” Scorpius said in almost a whisper.  
“I know.”  
“I'd do anything to get him back.”

He would do something about it. He had to do something about. The only problem was that it involved talking to the Potters.  
Apologizing was not something Draco had learnt during his childhood. And it was one of those things that were difficult to learn as an adult. He'd done it of course, he doubted there was a way to lead a happy marriage without having to apologize once in a while. But that had been to Astoria and she had always made him feel safe and strong and brave. Harry Potter on the other hand, not exactly his favourite person. If Astoria had been there she'd have told Draco what to say. But then again, if Astoria had been there this would never have happened.  
He went to Germany again and checked into the same place he'd stayed in during the alchemists convention last fall. He wasn't even sure why he went there. Maybe because it was the last place he'd been before it had all gone bad.  
He lay on the bed and closed his eyes. Remembering.  
When Astoria had become pregnant, they stopped going out and mainly stayed at home. It wasn't an easy pregnancy and Draco didn't want to let his wife out of his sight. During the sixth month some Death Eaters tried to break out of Azkaban, but were unsuccessful. The fact that hardly anyone had seen Draco for months prior to the incident didn't look good, so the Ministry started to investigate. Not wanting to worry her, Draco didn't tell Astoria about it and always found some other excuse why he had to go out when he went to the Ministry for questioning. She read about it in the Daily Prophet eventually. It was the worst fight they ever had. Astoria actually started to throw things at him.  
Draco stared at the ceiling.  
“You were so furious.”  
“And rightfully so. You don't keep things like that a secret from your wife.”  
He closed his eyes, pretending as if she was lying next to him. And if he would move his hand just a little bit it would touch hers and when she would turn onto her side he'd feel her breath against his neck. Then he'd open his eyes and turn his head, look at her and they'd lie there forever and that would be enough.  
“Can you help me?”  
Astoria sitting up, crossing her legs. “Of course.”  
He took a quill and parchment and wrote down everything she said. Everything his head told him in her voice. It took him some time, a lot of crossing out and a lot of corrections.  
He went into the bathroom and read it out aloud in front of the mirror. The words felt strange in his mouth and they sounded wrong. They didn't sound like something Draco Malfoy would say. He read them out over and over again until he got used to the sound of them, until he knew them by heart.

This is going to be so awkward, Draco thought as he left the Manor. This is going to be so incredibly awkward, he thought as he Disapparated and rematerialized in front of the Potters' house. I don't want to do this, Draco thought before he knocked. This is for Scorpius, he remembered and knocked. He'd been thinking about whether it would be worse if Harry opened the door or Ginny. But it was Vicky, balancing Flora on her hip.  
“Come in,” she said.  
“Hi,” Draco said a bit thrown off course. “Have you moved back here?”  
“Only temporarily. Teddy's on guard duty again.”  
“I see,” Draco said. “And how's my little cousin doing?”  
“Oh, she's great. Growing incredibly fast.”  
“Yes, I can see that.”  
“You want to hold her?” Vicky asked.  
“Sure.” He took the baby from her. “Wow, you've got heavy,” he told Flora. She giggled when he tickled her belly. “Wow, she's very relaxed with strangers, isn't she?” he asked Vicky.  
“Maybe she doesn't consider you a stranger,” Vicky said. “Harry and Ginny are in the living room.”  
Right, he had almost forgotten why he was here. He went into the living room, Flora still in his arms.  
Ginny and Harry were sitting next to each other on the sofa.  
“Hello Draco,” Ginny said, “sit down.”  
He did so in the armchair opposite them, setting Flora on his lap.  
“Tea?” Ginny asked. He shook his head.  
The Potters looked at him expectantly.  
Draco drew a deep breath. His hands were sweaty.  
“So,” he began, “I came to talk about Scorpius and Albus. But I think that I owe you an apology first.” He looked at Harry, who's face remained passive. “I'm really not good at apologizing, but I'll try my best. I'm really sorry for what I did. I shouldn't have done it. It means a lot to Scorpius and me that our families have gotten on so well recently and I never wanted to risk that. I'm sorry and I promise it will never happen again.”  
That doesn't sound like me at all, Draco thought. From the looks the Potters gave him he gathered they were thinking the same.  
He saw Ginny nudge Harry.  
“Er, yes,” Harry said, looking uncomfortable. “Let's just forget about it, OK?”  
Draco exhaled in relief. He nodded. Ginny smiled at Harry, giving his hand a little squeeze.  
“What is it you wanted to talk about then, Draco?” she asked.  
“Ah, yes, Scorpius and Albus. James wrote to me a few days ago. He thinks it's time they got back together.”  
Ginny let out an exasperated groan. “I told him to stay out of that.”  
“What if he's right?” Draco asked.  
“Then they should work that out on their own,” Ginny said firmly.  
“Scorpius won't do anything, he feels much too guilty and Albus, no offence, but don't you think he might get too comfortable feeling sorry for himself?”  
“Excuse me?” Ginny asked.  
“Gin, that actually sounds like Albus,” Harry muttered.  
“I think we should stay out of our children's love lives. It's never an easy age, I know that. But we all had to go through it and so will they.”  
“That's not entirely true though,” Draco said, “they're situation is different. What they're going through would be challenging for an adult couple who've been together for a longer time, let alone two teenagers who are just discovering their relationship. I know, I've been there. I don't think you can leave them alone with that and expect them to deal with it. Looking back now I think we should've gotten involved the day Scorpius got diagnosed.”  
“Or maybe we should accept the fact, that things that look good at the beginning are not necessarily always meant to be.” Ginny argued.  
“Do you really believe that?” Draco asked.  
“I think it's not our call. It was Al's decision, he made it and we should accept that and so should Scorpius.”  
“Or we should have given him an actual choice instead of leaving him alone with the situation.” Draco's voice had risen. Flora didn't seem to like that, so he rocked her from side to side reassuringly.  
“I didn't leave my son alone!” Ginny shot back angrily. “You were the one who was quick to blame him when Scorpius was in St. Mungo's and then got angry at him for breaking up with Scorpius. I know that you want your son to be happy and looked after, but your not using mine for it!”  
“That is not what I'm doing!” Draco tried to keep his voice calm for Flora, but it was difficult. “I'm trying to do right by Albus too this time.”  
“You don't get to decide what is right for my son!”  
“At least I know what it's like to be in his position.”  
“And maybe I don't want Albus to end up like you!”  
That shut Draco up.  
“Gin,” he heard Harry murmur, apparently he too considered this a low blow.  
“I'm sorry, that came out the wrong way.”  
“Oh, I think it came out exactly how you meant it,” Draco said coolly. “You think Albus can do better than Scorpius?”  
“That is not what I'm saying. I'm saying that I saw you after you lost Astoria and I don't want Albus to have to go through that too.”  
“Don't you think he already is going through that? Right now?” Draco asked.  
Ginny didn't seem to have an answer to that.  
“What is your suggestion then?” Harry asked Draco.  
“I'd like to talk to Albus. I want to explain to him what Scorpius's illness is and what it means to be with someone who is ill, because I know about it. And I want to show him that he's not alone in this and that he can rely on his family and me to be there when things get rough. And then when he still doesn't want to be with Scorpius, I'll accept that, I promise. I won't pressure him to do anything. But I think right now he doesn't feel like he has a choice and I think we should give it to him.”  
Ginny had lowered her gaze to the small table in front of her, refusing to meet his eyes. But Harry looked at him with an almost impressed expression.  
“I think that sounds good,” he finally said.  
Draco smiled while Flora gave a delighted squeak.

Hogsmeade was stuffed with students. Some stared at him, but most of them ignored him. When he entered the Three Broomsticks he saw Albus sitting at a table in a corner together with Rose and Hugo Granger-Weasley and Freddie Weasley. Rose waved over to Draco. Albus didn't notice him until Draco was standing in front of their table and Rose, Hugo and Freddie all stood up.  
“Draco, what are you doing here?” Albus asked confused.  
Draco took the seat opposite him that Hugo had just vacated. “I'm here to talk to you.”  
“What?” Albus looked from Draco to his cousins. “Wait, did you set this up?” he asked Rose in an accusatory voice.  
“No, James did,” she said, “I just executed the plan. He said you can yell at him later, after you've talked to Mr Malfoy. Have fun.”  
The three of them left, Albus looked after them in disbelief.  
“Do you want something else to drink?” Draco asked, indicating the almost empty bottle of Butterbeer in front of Albus.  
“Why are you here?” Albus asked, ignoring Draco's question.  
“Your parents and I thought it might be a good idea, if the two of us had a talk about things.”  
“Why?”  
“You'll see. Don't worry, I'll be nice. Not like last time. Now, do you want another Butterbeer?”  
Albus drained the bottle and handed it to Draco. “Sure.”  
Draco went to the counter and got a Butterbeer for Albus and a glass of mead for himself. Albus took the bottle wordlessly when Draco arrived back at the table, still looking sulky.  
“How are you?” Draco asked.  
“I'm fine.”  
“That's good,” Draco said, even though he knew Albus was lying. “I'm sorry for what I said to you when Scorpius was in hospital. I was upset, but I know it wasn't your fault. None of it.”  
“I really don't care, Draco,” Albus said boldly.  
“Maybe not. But I do.”  
“Yeah, right. All you care about is Scorpius. And that's all right, I guess. But it's why you're here, isn't it? To convince me to go back to him.”  
“No. I'm not here to convince you to do anything. I'm here because I think I made a mistake where you're concerned and I want to correct that.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“When Scorpius was diagnosed I was so focussed on what this meant for him that I forgot that you were a part of it too. That it changed your life just as much, that you needed to be told things, that you were scared too. And also that you knew a lot less about what this meant than Scorpius and I did. It's easy to say that I was too busy taking care of my own child to worry about you too, but I think if anyone should have realized this it was me. Because I was once in your position. Not exactly the same, of course, when Astoria and I fell in love the Curse had already shown up in her. But it is still similar. And I know it's a little late now, but I still want to try and make it up.”  
Albus's face had softened a tiny bit. “How?” he asked.  
“I'm going to tell you all about this. Everything you need to know about the Curse, about the treatment, about what it's like to have to watch it.”  
“What does it matter now? We're not a couple any more.”  
“I know that,” Draco said quickly. “I know. Two reasons: First of all you're still class mates and you're still going to be around each other for the next two and half years. And I know you're not indifferent towards Scorpius. So, maybe this way you can be a bit more comfortable around each other. And second, I think you broke up with Scorpius because you're scared and I think you're scared because you're uninformed. So, I thought maybe I can take a bit of that fear from you.”  
Albus didn't say anything. He was picking at the label of his bottle.  
“Is that OK for you?” Draco asked.  
Albus gave a small nod, his gaze still fixed on the bottle.  
“Then I'll start with the medical stuff. The Greengrass Curse has been in my wife's family for quite some time. No one knows why it showed up in her, but it did. She was around the same age as Scorpius is now. Normally those kind of curses die with their first victim, it's unusual for them to surface in a second descendant, but it happens sometimes. The Curse has four stages. Scorpius is in the second. During the first the Curse doesn't show at all. In the second stage it surfaces for the first time and starts fighting against the body and vice versa. But it only takes control when given the opportunity, when the body is weakened. In the second stage small injuries cause much more blood loss than they would with a healthy person. To prolong that phase Scorpius takes all his potions which help his body fight the curse and he needs to be careful not to injure himself or do things that could weaken his body. In the third stage the Curse can break through without indication. It's what you saw when you visited us during the Easter holidays before Scorpius's mum died. It means that bleeding can start at any time without a cause. The first three stages can each take several years. The fourth stage is usually the shortest. It's called the starvation stage, when the Curse takes over the blood and starts starving the body. You saw that with Astoria as well. She entered it about a year before she died. At first it's manageable with potions and a lot of rest, but at some point the body gives up.” Draco cleared his throat. “If a bleeding isn't stopped quickly enough, no matter which stage you're in, the Curse takes over the body and tries to destroy a part of it. Which is what happened to Scorpius's arm. The Healers suspect that his eyes were next, but that the Curse was interrupted half-way. If it'd gone on longer he would probably be blind now. It happened to Astoria once during her last weeks. She was deaf on one ear afterwards.  
“Scorpius takes potions that help keep the Curse at bay. They take some getting used to, as we saw in October, because they activate the body to fight and at the same time take a lot of energy from it and that is, apparently not a pleasant feeling, but you get used to it once the body adapts. And Scorpius can't fall asleep on his own any more since he started taking them. That was different with his mother.”  
“Yes, I know,” Albus said. Of course he knew, he'd shared a dormitory – probably a bed – with Scorpius for weeks.  
“Right. So, that's the basics. Is there anything else you'd like to know?” Draco asked.  
“Was she in pain?” Albus asked. The label on his Butterbeer had almost come off now.  
“Astoria? Only when she started bleeding internally. Which was good, otherwise we wouldn't have noticed it. But in the end, no, she just got weaker, until -” His voice trailed off. He took a sip of his mead. “It's not easy, Albus,” he continued, “and it wasn't always pleasant to watch. But nothing I ever did was more right than being with her and I'd do it again, every time.”  
Albus had finally gotten the label off and was now shredding it absent-mindedly into little pieces. They sat in silence for a long time.  
“What are you thinking?” Draco asked eventually.  
“Who do you think you would be now if Scorpius hadn't been born?” Albus asked, finally looking up.  
“It's -” Draco cleared his throat, “it's not something I like to think about very much.”  
“Exactly. That's what I'm afraid of. Because it's not like Scorpius and I were going to have kids, is it?”  
“Well, first of all I think it's different for you, because you have a great family to support you and that helps a lot. And the second thing I'm only going to tell you if you promise never to tell Scorpius.”  
“OK,” Albus agreed.  
“If Scorpius hadn't been born, my wife might still be alive now. The pregnancy and birth weakened her considerably. We knew they would. We made the decision to have a child despite it and neither of us ever regretted it. Not for a second. It's the truth, but Scorpius can't know. I don't want him to think it's his fault.”  
“No,” Albus agreed.  
“But you see? If Scorpius takes good care of himself he can live longer than his mother did. I know it's still scary, Albus, and I also know that you two would have to sort some things out. But Scorpius is willing to do that. It's a lot, but given what you two mean to each other, maybe you should consider whether it might not be worth it.”  
Albus nodded. “I'll think about it,” he said.

He didn't tell Scorpius about it, because he didn't want him to get his hopes up. But he did visit him the next day. Scorpius was still in the hospital wing, but Hannah said he could move to the dormitories soon. Which dormitories was another question.  
“Have you decided what you're going to do about the Dark Mark?” Scorpius asked.  
“I was thinking about using Sectumsempra, but I don't think I will after all. At least for now,” Draco said. “The last weeks have been eventful enough. I don't currently feel the need to blast my arm off.”  
“That sounds like a healthy attitude,” Scorpius chuckled.  
Draco heard the door to the hospital wing open behind him. He turned around. It was Albus, looking very nervous. He came over to Scorpius's bed and sat down on the opposite side from Draco. Scorpius's eyes had widened in surprise. He looked terrified.  
“Hi,” Albus said.  
Scorpius seemed unable to say anything.  
“I'm ready to listen now,” Albus continued.  
Scorpius looked a bit confused.  
“The last time we spoke you wanted to say something, but I never let you. I'm ready now,” Albus explained.  
Scorpius nodded slowly.  
“I'll leave you two alone,” Draco said, standing up, but the boys hardly seemed to notice.  
Outside in the corridor he leaned against the wall and sighed in relief.  
It was all worth it, he thought, because it's going to be OK now.


	11. Quidditch Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The school year and Quidditch season are both coming to an end. Freddie finally gets heard.

“Come on, James, you can't stay in bed all day,” Albus said.  
“Yes, I can,” James sniffed.  
“But it won't make it better.”  
James looked up. “Do you even hear how ridiculously hypocritical that sounds coming from you?”  
Albus had the decency to look a bit ashamed. “Please, James, I don't want to have to go downstairs and tell Lily I couldn't do it.”  
“So you want me to get up as a favour to you? No way, I've done more than enough for you this year already. And why are you even here, Albus? Who died and made you the compassionate Potter in chief?”  
“Lily sent me. She couldn't come herself because she's in detention.”  
“What? Again? What for?”  
“I didn't even ask.” Albus sat down on James's bed. “Will you get up? Please? We can go outside. The weather's really nice.”  
“Don't you have better things to do? Spend time with your boy-friend or something?”  
“He's got Quidditch practice. So no, I've got nothing better to do and I will stay here and pester you until you leave the bed.”  
James groaned and pulled the covers over his head.  
“James, get up.” Albus poked him in the ribs.  
“Hey, don't do that!” James snapped.  
“Come on!” Albus kept poking until James was gasping for breath from laughter. He was ticklish as hell.  
“Don't do that!” he complained when he could breath again and had freed himself from the blanket.  
“I won't if you get up.”  
“I can't go outside,” James moaned. “I look awful.”  
“That's never stopped you before.”  
He threw a pillow at Albus.  
“Splash some cold water in your face, comb your hair and you're good to go,” Albus said.  
A few minutes later they were walking out of the castle. Albus was right, it really was a beautiful day.  
“So, do you want to talk about it?” Albus asked uncomfortably.  
“Hell, no.”  
“Thank Dumbledore,” Albus muttered.  
James watched the Slytherin team's training in the distance.  
“They're going to win the Cup,” he grumbled.  
“I know.” Albus puffed out his chest.  
Since Louis, that complete idiot, and his team had lost against the Slytherins, no one doubted that the Slytherins would win the Cup. All they had to do was win against the Hufflepuff and that really wasn't such a hard thing to do. It was extremely frustrating because the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw-match would take place a week later, which meant that the Cup would probably already be lost by then.  
“Albus, can I ask you something?” James asked when they sat down in the shadow of a tree.  
“Sure, what?”  
“Are you gay or bi?”  
Albus snorted. “Why do you want to know that?”  
“I don't know, just curious.”  
“I'm gay.”  
“OK. And, er, and Scorpius?”  
Albus rolled his eyes. “Scorpius says he doesn't like labels – which, if you ask me, means he's bi – but if he'd have to choose one he'd be a 'person who can only fall in love with Albus Potter'.”  
James winced. “That's cheesy.”  
“I know.”  
“Merlin, sometimes I wish I was,” James said.  
“What? A person who can only fall in love with Albus Potter?” Albus chuckled.  
James elbowed him. “Ha, ha. No, gay. Might make things easier.”  
Albus snorted. “James, look at me, remember the last few months and then in all honesty say that you think my love life is less stressful than yours.”  
“Yeah, OK, now that you say it like that,” James admitted. “But still, girls, they're so weird.”  
“Tell me about it. I don't even understand our own sister.”  
“Albus, no one understands Lily,” James assured him.  
“I mean one moment she's the nicest most understanding person ever and the next she goes around hexing Slytherin Quidditch players to help Hufflepuff win the match.”  
“I told her she can't do that.”  
“Did she listen to you?” Albus asked.  
“Not sure.”

The Weasleys were sitting together again wearing yellow, all except Hugo and Albus.  
“Welcome to the second to last Quidditch match of the season, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff. It is an extraordinary game, as the Hufflepuffs are already out of the running for the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup, while a Slytherin win would win the Slytherins the Cup regardless of the outcome of the match next week. The hopes of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw rest upon the Hufflepuffs' shoulders who are determined to give their best one last time in this tournament. Slytherin still has not caught a single Snitch this season, winning by goals against Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.”  
Down on the pitch the captains were shaking hands and Madam Hooch was raising her whistle to her mouth.  
“And they're off!” Hugo called. “Slytherin takes possession of the Quaffle. Slytherin Chaser Smith passes to Flint who dodges a Bludger, swerves around Hufflepuff Chaser MacDonald, passes to Zabini who passes back to Smith and Smith scores.”  
The Slytherins cheered, the rest of the school groaned.  
Only a few people saw what happened, James among them. “Look!” he yelped.  
“Holy shit!” Lily shouted.  
“Hang on, what is that?” Hugo asked confused through his megaphone. “Is that? YES! Moon's got the Snitch! Hufflepuff Seeker Moon catches the Snitch!”  
The crowd erupted into disbelieving cheers. It had to be a record. James could not remember a Hogwarts Quidditch match ever ending that fast. But it didn't matter. He was hugging Rose and Lily, jumping up and down. They had a chance. They still had a chance to win the Cup.  
“Hufflepuff wins the match with one-hundred-and-fifty points to ten!” Hugo shouted gleefully.  
Still ecstatic with joy James didn't realize at first that someone was tugging at his sleeve. When he looked down he saw that it was Lucy. She looked scared.  
“What's up, Lucy?”  
“Freddie,” she said pointing to the seat next to her.  
Freddie was sitting there, staring over the jubilating crowd, his face completely expressionless.  
James crouched down next to him. “Freddie?” he asked as gently as he could over all the noise. Freddie didn't react, he didn't even look at James. “Freddie?” he asked again, nudging Freddie's right forearm. Freddie flinched back. “I'm sorry.” James held up his hands. “I'm sorry, Freddie. Can you look at me? Can you do that?” Freddie still stared over James's head. James turned around.  
“Louis!” he called. “Louis!” His cousin turned around, having just hugged a fellow Ravenclaw.  
“What?”  
“Can you get Hugo? It's important!”  
Louis looked from James to Freddie and nodded. “I'll be right back.”  
The stands began to empty. “You go back to the castle,” James told Rose and Lily. “I'll handle this.” He knew Freddie didn't like to be the centre of attention.  
Louis came back with Hugo a few minutes later. Hugo was beaming. He sat down next to Freddie.  
“Hey, Freddie, congratulations, you won!” he said. “I'll go up to the castle now. You coming, too?”  
Instead of waiting for a reaction, Hugo stood up and Freddie did so too. He held his right arm with his left, as though it had been hurt. But James knew better than to ask. Hugo led them back to the castle.  
“Have you got this?” Louis asked when they reached the front doors.  
“Yeah, go celebrate,” James said.  
“Thanks. Are you coming, Lucy?”  
Lucy shook her head. She looked shaken. “What's wrong, Lucy?” James asked.  
“I think I did it,” Lucy whispered. “I think I hurt Freddie.”  
“Let's got to the hospital wing and you can tell me about it there, OK?”  
She nodded.  
They followed Hugo to the hospital wing, where they found Scorpius and Albus sitting on a bed together.  
“What are you doing here?” James asked.  
“Some Hufflepuff accidentally pushed her elbow in my face,” Scorpius said. “I had a nose bleed and Albus is making a fuss.”  
Hannah came hurrying over to Freddie and Hugo.  
“Sit down,” she said, ushering them to the bed next to Albus and Scorpius. “Did you hurt your arm again?” she asked Freddie.  
He didn't answer – of course he didn't. She sliced open the sleeve of his robes with a swish of her wand to expose his arm. It was swollen and darker than the rest of his skin.  
“Lucy, what happened?” James asked quietly.  
“I don't know. I said something to Freddie and he sat down and went all funny like he is now and held his arm.” Her bottom lip trembled.  
“What did you say to him?”  
“I said now he could be proud to be a Hufflepuff after all.”  
“That's not a very nice thing to say, Lucy.”  
She started crying. “I know,” she sniffed. “I'm sorry.”  
“It's OK. And don't worry, saying stuff like that usually doesn't break people's arms.”  
“Hang on.” Scorpius got up from his bed and joined them, having obviously listened in to what they'd said while Hannah was busy healing Freddie. “Did you say his arm broke after you said something mean to him?”  
Lucy nodded.  
Scorpius's eyes widened. “I think I have an idea what this might be,” he whispered.  
He turned to Hannah, who had healed Freddie's bones and was now mending his sleeve.  
“Mrs Longbottom, could I talk to you?” he asked.  
“Of course,” Hannah said, leading the way to her office. Scorpius, Albus and James followed her.  
“You stay here and be nice,” James told Lucy.  
“What is it, Scorpius?” Hannah asked when she'd closed the door behind them.  
“I read a bit about healing when I was home after Christmas and I might have an idea what could be happening to Freddie.”  
“OK?”  
“I've read that witches and wizards with depression who have difficulties expressing their emotions sometimes get hurt by their own magic. Freddie is the only Hufflepuff, apart from Victoire, in a mainly Gryffindor family, which might be a bit of a sore spot for him. Every time he got hurt was around a Quidditch match when people were making a lot of fun about Hufflepuff for playing so poorly this year. What if someone said something to him and he got angry, but he didn't know how to let that anger out, so it broke his bones? I read it's quite common that your wand arm gets broken because the emotions first try to get out as accidental magic. That would explain why he won't say what happened. He doesn't know.”  
Hannah looked at Scorpius impressed. “That's possible,” she said slowly.  
“Are you saying Freddie did this to himself?” James asked.  
“Yes, but without meaning to,” Hannah explained. “As Scorpius said, he probably doesn't know what's happening either.”  
“Merlin. No wonder he looks so scared all the time. That's terrifying.”  
“Yes,” Scorpius agreed.  
“So, what do we do know?” James asked.  
“I'll inform his parents. They have to come and then we'll decide what to do next.” Hannah said.  
“OK,” Albus said, “can Scorpius please get back into bed now?”  
Scorpius sighed. “It was only a nose bleed, Albus.”  
“Did you just use the words 'only' and 'bleed' in one sentence? Because there's no such thing with you.”  
Scorpius muttered something that sounded like “worse than my dad.”  
Albus gasped. “You take that back!”  
“Do we tell Freddie?” James asked Hannah.  
She shook her head. “Not yet.”  
James, Albus and Scorpius left the office again. Albus ushered Scorpius back to bed. James went over to Lucy.  
“Listen, Lucy, it wasn't your fault. But I don't want to hear you saying things like that again, OK?”  
She nodded. “You can go back to Ravenclaw Tower now.”  
She left.  
James strolled over to Scorpius's bed. Scorpius looked sulky.  
“Come on,” Albus said, obviously trying to cheer him up, “you can still win the Cup.”  
“I know,” Scorpius sighed.  
Uncle George and Uncle Ron arrived about an hour later.  
“Angelina's on a business trip,” George said.  
“Where's Roxy then?” Hugo asked.  
“We left her in the shop,” Ron said. “We're not quite sure whether the staff is watching her or the other way around.”  
Hannah had already talked to them in her office.  
George sat down next to Freddie's bed. “Freddie,” he said, “Mrs Longbottom is going to give you a potion that will help you tell us what's going on. Is that OK with you?”  
Freddie didn't give any sign that he had heard. He didn't even look at his father.  
“Freddie, can you hear me?” George asked. He looked towards Hannah. “Can he hear me?”  
“I don't see why he shouldn't.”  
“Freddie, are you OK with that?” Ron asked.  
But Freddie didn't react.  
“I'd like to do this in my living room,” Hannah said, “because we won't be disturbed there.”  
“OK.” Hugo got up.  
“No, Hugo, you can't come with us.”  
“Why not?”  
“We don't know what Freddie will say. It can sometimes be a bit unsettling to witness,” Hannah explained.  
“But I know Freddie. He would never -”  
“Hugo!” Uncle Ron said, looking unusually stern.  
Hugo fell silent.

James and Hugo sat on Freddie's bed, Albus and Scorpius facing them on Scorpius's. They were waiting.  
“So,” Scorpius began, “has Freddie always been like this?”  
“No, he couldn't shut up as a child,” James reminisced.  
“Though to be fair, he was always shy when strangers were around,” Albus said.  
“That's true. He only spoke with people he knew well. I know Vicky was so heart-broken when she came home from her first year at Hogwarts and he didn't talk to her any more. But it happened to all of us. If you went to Hogwarts Freddie stopped talking to you.”  
“Not Rose,” Hugo corrected James. “He still talked to Rose.”  
“You mean he answered her when she asked a question?” Albus said.  
“It counts.”  
“And when he came to Hogwarts himself he still didn't talk to you?” Scorpius asked.  
“Right. He only talked to Hugo here.”  
“It didn't make things easier that he was sorted into Hufflepuff, when we all were in other houses,” Albus continued.  
“I don't really understand why anyone was surprised by that,” Hugo said. “Freddie is like the living embodiment of Hufflepuff. He's the kindest person there is.”  
“Although,” James said, “Scorpius might be at least second on that list.”  
Scorpius blushed.  
“Seriously Scorpius, how come you're not in Hufflepuff?” James asked.  
“You do know my name's Malfoy, right?”  
“Didn't help Albus that he's called Potter,” James muttered.  
“Freddie's got a theory on that,” Hugo piped up.  
“On why Scorpius is in Slytherin?” James asked.  
“No, why Albus is in Slytherin. He says that Scorpius was sorted first so the Hat had already seen into his mind and put him into Slytherin and then Albus came and maybe the Hat just thought they'd make a cute couple and that's why he put him in Slytherin too.”  
James snorted. Albus rolled his eyes. Scorpius on the other hand gave Albus a soppy grin.  
“Anyway,” James said pointedly, “he was really funny when he was little.”  
“Still is,” Hugo interrupted.  
“Like his sister?” Scorpius asked.  
“Bit different,” James said. “You know, Roxy starts cracking jokes and is the centre of attention immediately. She's good at it and she enjoys it. Freddie was different. He always knew when someone needed cheering up. I swear he has a sixth sense for detecting upsetness. And no matter what was wrong Freddie always managed to make you smile.”  
“Still does that,” Hugo said.  
“So, who does he talk to nowadays?” Scorpius asked.  
“His parents, Uncle Ron, Roxy, Hugo and on good days Rose,” Albus said.  
“And your other Aunts and Uncles?” Scorpius asked. “And your grandparents?”  
James shrugged. “He was never very comfortable around adults. I mean it's not just that he stopped talking to us when we went to Hogwarts. He generally got quieter over the years, towards everyone except Hugo and Roxy.”  
Hugo nodded. “It got a lot worse when his parents separated.”  
“Teddy once said to me there was nothing wrong with Freddie, he just had the wrong parents,” James said.  
“That sounds harsh,” Scorpius said. He seemed to notice James, Albus and Hugo exchanging looks. “What?”  
“He's not alone in thinking that. Although most in the family wouldn't phrase it like that,” Albus said.  
“How would they say it?”  
“You know Uncle George had a twin brother who died in the Battle of Hogwarts, right?” James asked Scorpius.  
Scorpius nodded. “Of course. They're famous! I read about them and my parents told me about how they left Hogwarts.”  
“Right. Not everyone in our family thinks it was a good idea to name Freddie after Fred.”  
“Mum says George expected his son to turn out to be the way Fred and he were like when they were young. And well, he didn't.”  
“But I don't get.” Scorpius frowned. “Freddie seems a lot like George.”  
“Yes, but Fred and George were more like Roxy. George only became this quiet after his brother died,” James said.  
“True,” Albus agreed. “And Mum insists he's still the same mischief-maker, he just can't communicate it any more. Freddie's not like that. He's much more sensitive.”  
They sat in silence for a while.  
“What do you think he's telling them?” Albus asked after a while.  
“Maybe about that time he overheard is mum telling his dad, he'd only wanted a family because he'd thought it'd solve his problems,” Hugo said grimly.  
Scorpius winced.  
“Honestly, people who can't fight quietly should use Silencing Charms when the kids are around,” James said.  
“Do you think George is disappointed in Freddie?” Scorpius asked.  
“I think George is disappointed in the world and he doesn't know how to handle a child like Freddie and that can get easily get confused with it,” James answered.  
“You think Freddie thinks his dad is disappointed in him?”  
“Yes,” Hugo said.  
They turned around when the hospital wing's doors opened. It was Neville.  
“Hello,” he said, “what are you all doing here?”  
“Scorpius had a nose bleed and Mrs Longbottom took Freddie to your living room for treatment. He broke his arm again.” James realized that explanation didn't make a lot of sense.  
Neville looked a bit confused, but didn't ask further.  
“OK. Well, since I've got you here,” he turned to Scorpius. “Mr Malfoy, I've spoken to the examination committee and they assured me that you'll only have to do tasks in your practical Herbology examination that can be done with one hand and we found a solution for Potions.”  
“Really?” Scorpius's face lit up “What?”  
“Me!” Neville said proudly. “I'll be your personal assistant during the practical Potions exam. You have to tell me exactly how to do things that require two hands and I will do what you tell me. I swore to the committee that I wouldn't help you in any other way and let's face it even if I wanted to, I was awful at Potions, so.”  
“Wow, that's great! Thank you, Professor!”  
Neville clapped Scorpius on the back. “Sure, anything for my favourite godson-in-law.”  
Scorpius beamed. James and Hugo burst out laughing and Albus went pink.  
“Well, I'll check on what's happening in my living room,” Neville said, chuckling as he left towards Hannah's office.  
“I thought he wasn't your godfather here,” Scorpius said, when Neville had gone.  
“He has weak moments, too,” Albus said, grinning.  
Neville came back a few minutes later followed by James's father.  
“Dad, what are you doing here?” James and Albus asked in unison.  
Harry went over to them and sat down on a chair between the two beds, while Neville hurried out of the hospital wing.  
“How's Freddie?” Hugo asked.  
“Neville Flooed us a few minutes ago,” Harry explained, “so I don't really know what's going on either. I just know that Hannah and Ron are currently checking Freddie in to St. Mungo's.”  
“Why?” Hugo asked, his eyes huge.  
“Because he needs to get treated there.”  
“Can I go, too?”  
“No, Hugo, but I'm sure you'll be able to visit him there soon.”  
“Where's Uncle George?” James asked.  
“Your mum's taken him home. He's not feeling too well.”  
“Why?” Hugo asked again, “What happened?”  
“I don't know, Hugo, I only just got here. Now, Hannah said to tell you,” he turned towards Scorpius, “to stay here, she'll be back soon. And I'm taking you two back to Gryffindor Tower,” he said with a nod to James and Hugo.  
“But -” Hugo began to protest.  
“Hugo, there's nothing you can do for Freddie right now.” Harry's voice was a bit too gentle to be entirely reassuring. “He's being taken good care of and he's safe. They'll make sure he won't get hurt any more.”  
Harry escorted them to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Hugo went into the common room, but James stayed outside.  
“What's wrong with Uncle George?” he asked when the portrait hole had closed behind Hugo and they started walking back down the corridor again.  
“He's just been told his son needs to be hospitalized for depression. What do you think is wrong?” Harry asked, not quite meeting James's eyes.  
“So, why isn't he going with him?”  
Harry stopped walking and turned to face James. “Look,” he said in a low voice as though fearing they might be overheard, “I don't know what Freddie said, but judging from the state everyone was in when we arrived, I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.”  
James swallowed. “Why?” he asked and realized that he sounded a bit hoarse.  
“Let's just say I've never seen George this upset and I've known him for about thirty years now.”  
James felt his eyes burning, he quickly bowed his head and looked at his shoes. “I'm sorry,” he mumbled.  
“What for?”  
“I should've known something was wrong. I should've listened when Ron and Hugo said they were worried about Freddie. I knew it was odd, but I just thought it was Freddie being himself and I didn't bother to worry about it.”  
“No, James.” He felt his father grip his shoulder. “Everyone's beating themselves up about this now, everyone feels guilty. You're not the only one. But this was not your responsibility. There are people who should have realized something was wrong, who should have done something much sooner, maybe even years ago. But that's not you. And it doesn't even matter any more, because it's done. It happened and no one can change it back and we just have to try and do our best now and learn from it.”  
“But isn't that what we said last year?” James asked angrily. “Isn't that what we said after Albus and Scorpius had their little adventure in time? That we'd take better care from now on? That we'd be more vigilant? I swore I wouldn't let something like that happen again!”  
“And you did a great job this year helping Albus and Scorpius. You've grown up so much these past few months I hardly recognize you. You can be proud of yourself. You couldn't have helped Freddie even if you'd known what was going on. It's easy to say what you should have done different afterwards. It's easy for Hannah to say she should have inquired more about Freddie's injuries, but the truth is she didn't because she was afraid he'd stop trusting her and she was probably right about that. Sometimes we can't help everyone. I know that sucks, trust me, I know. But it's something you'll have to learn too. And Freddie is getting the help he needs now.”  
James sniffed, he wiped at his cheeks impatiently.  
“Come on,” his dad said kindly, putting an arm around James's shoulders. “Let's go back to Albus and Scorpius. I've got some news that'll definitely make you laugh.”  
They went back to the hospital wing.  
“How's everything at home?” James asked.  
“Oh, fine. Work's been a lot better lately. Partly because Teddy's doing a much better job than his predecessor was and also because it turns out being sick for two weeks does make people think about whether they weren't asking a bit much of me. How are you? You know, with you're break-up?”  
James didn't feel particularly inclined to discuss the subject with his father. “It's OK,” he shrugged, “a bit weird, because suddenly Al started being nice to me and that kind of freaked me out. I sort of understand Scorpius better now, when he says it's creepy when people are too nice.”  
“Oh, yeah, that can be scary,” Harry agreed.  
“So what's the funny news, anyway?”  
“Not yet, I want to see Scorpius's face when he hears it.”  
When they entered the hospital wing, Scorpius and Albus were lying on the bed, cuddling. They sat up quickly when they saw Harry and James.  
“Is Hannah still not back yet?” Harry asked.  
“She came back about two minutes ago,” Scorpius said, “but she went to talk to Professor McGonagall.”  
“Can you tell us the news now, Dad?” James asked impatiently.  
“What news?” Albus inquired.  
“OK, so,” Harry drew up a chair and sat down, James did the same. “You know that the Lupins have had a bit of a bumpy start with this whole family-thing and Vicky's not been very happy with the way things have been?”  
They all nodded.  
“It's better now that Teddy's got the new position, because unlike the guards the Director of Azkaban has normal working hours, so he has nights and mostly weekends off. But he's still very busy with it and we've told them that they can't live with us forever. I mean we like having them around, just not all the time. So, after some very loud fights, a lot of tears and two nervous break-downs they decided that Vicky is going to go back to work next month, because she says she'll go nuts if she stays at home much longer.”  
“OK, but who's going to take care of Flora?” James asked.  
“Well, that was the big question. There were a few ideas at first. Your grandparents offered of course, but they're not as young as they used to be. Your mum considered working from home, but it was a bit half-heartedly, because she says raising three kids should be enough. Then all of the Weasley-adults started thinking about whether we could make this work as a team and just coordinated our working schedules. Ron and George thought about taking her to the shop like they did with their own children. At that point Teddy started joking around that he'd just take her to work with him and let the inmates play with her. Eventually we realized we were looking in the wrong family.”  
“What do you mean?” Albus asked.  
“Well, in the end the solution wasn't in the Weasley family, it was in Teddy's. Draco somehow got wind of it and offered to babysit Flora. According to Vicky the two of them seem to get on quite well. Teddy's not too happy about it, but Vicky said if he didn't like it he could stay at home with Flora.”  
Albus gaped. James grinned.  
Scorpius frowned. “How did my dad find out about it?” he asked. He met Harry's eyes and something seemed to pass between them that neither Albus nor James could understand. Harry gave Scorpius a reassuring smile.  
“When he came by after you two got back together to give us his report.”  
Scorpius seemed relieved and now that his question was answered quite happy about the news. James too thought that this sounded like a good solution. He still remembered how happy Draco had looked rocking a crying baby in the middle of the night – who on earth enjoyed that?  
“Why doesn't Teddy like it?”Albus asked.  
“Teddy's not Draco's greatest fan. I think he's just disappointed that his last living family are Draco, Scorpius and Delphi, and the only one of them he likes is Scorpius.”  
Scorpius sat up and looked at Harry delighted. “Teddy likes me?”  
“Of course Teddy likes you,” James sighed mockingly exasperated. “It's not possible to know you and not like you.”  
Scorpius flushed.  
“Exactly,” Harry continued, “I think Teddy's just a bit jealous at Vicky for being a Weasley, even though we keep telling him he's family too.”

Once the shock of the day had worn off James had a chance to do the math and came to the sobering conclusion that Gryffindor would have to win against Ravenclaw by more than three-hundred-and-sixty points to win the Quidditch Cup and seeing as Ravenclaw was probably the toughest team they'd faced so far the chances of that happening were almost none-existent. Ravenclaw on the other hand only had to win by two-hundred-and-ten points, which might actually be doable. Every other result would win the Slytherins the Cup.  
Louis actually approached James and told him that he should just let the Ravenclaws take the Cup over the Slytherins.  
“I will win this Cup or die trying,” James answered through gritted teeth. Louis smirked and went off.  
The Gryffindors practised almost every night and James knew his team had never been more prepared for a match, but still.

When he entered the stadion, leading his team the next Saturday James realized that the Coach of the English National Quidditch Team had come to watch.  
Damn, he thought, I can not lose this match.  
Hugo sounded a bit less enthusiastic as he welcomed the students to the final match. He had been very subdued ever since Freddie had left Hogwarts, but at least Hannah had promised him that he'd be allowed to visit him the next day.  
James and Louis shook hands very firmly.  
“You won't let us win, will you?” Louis asked, grinning.  
“Never,” James replied.  
“Fine. We'll get the Cup anyway.”  
“In your dreams.”  
They took off at the sound of Madam Hooch's whistle. James and the Ravenclaw Seeker didn't let each other out of sight, while the rest of their respective teams each tried to score a high enough lead for their Seeker to become active. After about an hour James called for time-out.  
“Listen, everyone,” he told his team, “we're not winning the Cup. If we let the match continue like this we'll be playing for the next week. I can end it. I can win us the match without the Cup, but only if you agree.”  
They all nodded in agreement.  
The game continued. James tried not to let the Ravenclaw Seeker notice that he was looking for the Snitch. After about five minutes he spotted it not too far from him. He casually rounded the other Seeker to be nearer to it when he started to race and then he went full speed.  
At least Albus and Scorpius will like this, he thought right before his hands closed around the winged ball and the Slytherins erupted into cheers.  
Louis came flying over. “You let them win the Cup?” he yelled furiously.  
James shrugged. “Sorry, I didn't fancy third place.”

Albus shared his birthday with Scorpius this year, seeing as Scorpius had slept through his own. Draco invited the Potters, Granger-Weasleys, Lupins and George with his kids over to Malfoy Manor. Scorpius told James that their house elf had burst into tears of joy when hearing that he'd be able to cook a real feast.  
James was sitting on the grass, watching Lily, Rose, Scorpius and Freddie play Quidditch against his parents, Uncle Ron and Uncle George. Draco had made some adjustments to Scorpius's broom, so that he could hold his balance using only his feet, leaving his arm free to catch and throw the Quaffle. He was getting quite good at it. Albus, Hugo and Aunt Hermione were sitting next to James, while Draco, Teddy and Roxy were playing with Flora a few yards away. Vicky was on weekend duty as an Auror.  
Albus hadn't seemed too thrilled about Scorpius playing Quidditch even if it was without Bludgers, but he visibly relaxed when he saw Scorpius looking so happy on his broom again.  
“Freddie should really try out for Hufflepuff next year,” James told Hugo. “They've already got a decent Seeker and he might really turn things around for them. He's excellent.”  
Hugo grinned. “I know. He's thinking about it.”  
“Good. When is he going to be released from St. Mungo's anyway? Wasn't that supposed to happen a week ago?”  
Hermione sighed. “Yes, that was the plan. But George and Angelina got into a huge fight about where Freddie would stay over the summer and the Healers refused to release Freddie until that's sorted out. He's allowed to leave for short periods of time, though. Like today.”  
“How the hell has Roxy not gone completely mental in that family?” James asked.  
“She's tough,” Hermione said simply.  
James looked over to Roxy, who was tickling Flora's belly. James had never been told what Freddie had said to his father while under the influence of the potion, but Angelina had. She had refused to let Roxy stay with George after that, saying he was clearly not capable of taking care of their children. Roxy was so upset that she'd run away from her mother and was now living with the Granger-Weasleys, while George, according to Ron, had finally agreed to “get some help”. James didn't know what exactly that meant, but everyone seemed quite relieved about it.  
“Might be good for her that she's going to Hogwarts next year,” he said. “Is Freddie going back there?”  
“Yes, it looks like it. He's doing so much better,” Hermione said.  
“I know. He said 'hello' to me today. Nearly gave me a heart attack. I hadn't heard his voice in seven years.”  
Hermione smiled. “If you're lucky and it's a good day, he'll even say good-bye.”  
“James, guess what?” Albus was leaning over to him, having missed his conversation with Hermione. “The letters from Hogwarts arrived yesterday. Scorpius was made Quidditch Captain!”  
“Really?” James asked, a bit taken aback. “I didn't know that was even allowed, seeing as he won't play himself.”  
“Neither did we. But I think Bowker might have put in a word for him with McGonagall, because she kept saying he's an excellent strategist.”  
“That's really cool!”  
“I know. But why aren't you playing?”  
James groaned. “I spent the entire week on a broomstick. I need a break.”  
“Never thought you could have enough Quidditch in your life.”  
“Neither did I.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. Thank you for reading, commenting and leaving kudos! I apologize to everyone I have upset in the process. There probably will be a sequel, but I don't yet know when.


End file.
